^36 S/. Qiiintin : Life-History of the Leaf-Insect. 



my experience, is more inclined to make a meal off him than to 

 accept his attentions. But there is no difficulty in obtaining 

 ova from the European Bacillus rossii, though I have never 

 either found in the wild state, nor bred a male of this species. 

 I have, for three successive summers, had broods from wild- 

 caught females (by parthenogenesis) , and then the race dwindled 

 in numbers, and finally ceased to propagate. At the Zoological 

 Gardens in Regent's Park, from the same original stock which 

 I presented to the Society, I believe the insects were kept 

 going for one more year, that is, they reared four broods before 

 they came to an end, and I understood that, as in my own 

 broods, no males made their appearance. 



In May 1906, through the kindness of a friend who visited 

 the Seychelle Islands in Lord Crawford's magnificent yacht 

 ' Valhalla,' I became possessor of about thirty ova of the 

 Leaf Insect referred to at the beginning of this paper, which 

 duly began to hatch at the end of August. The wild guava is 

 the natural food of this insect in the Sej^chelles ; but mine feed 

 well on beech leaves, and later I get them on to oak foliage, 

 with the intention of inducing them to take to the evergreen oak 

 {Q. Ilex) for the winter, which answers well. A temperature 

 of 70-80 Fahr. suited the larvae well, and a saturated atmos- 

 phere, in addition to which the foliage of the food-plant is 

 gently sprayed with tepid water once or twice a day, according 

 to the season. Under those conditions I have had no losses, 

 except by accidents. From the ova which were laid in April 

 and given to me in May, the young larvae began to hatch in the 

 last week of August, and most of them emerged in September 

 and October. But one did not leave the eggshell till January 8th, 

 1907. This insect, a female, survived till the 8th December of 

 the same year. All the males were dead long before this female 

 reached the imago state, but I have kept her ova to see whether, 

 by parthenogenesis, she was able to perpetuate her species. 

 However, up to the present time, 24th May, there have been no 

 results. In the imago state the female feeds freely, and enjoys 

 a fairly prolonged life, while maturing her eggs. But the male 

 imago, though feeding as a rule is short-lived, sometimes 

 dying directly after pairing. However, in one case, a particular 

 male was noticed to mate with no fewer than five females, 

 and this one lived several weeks. The insects are thirsty 

 creatures, and although kept in a saturated atmosphere, wel- 

 come the spraying, and as soon as all is quiet can be seen sipping 



Naturalist, 



