S/. Oiiintin : Lifi -History of ilic Leaf-Insect. 



The adults differ greatly in colour, especially the females. 

 Of course green largely predominates in most specimens, but 

 some of the green ones of both sexes are beautifully decorated 

 ^^ith reddish or orange brown, especially on the limbs. Others 

 of the females are so marked with blotches and stains as almost 

 exactl}^ to resemble a decaying leaf. 



I have bred some entirely yellow, and several of a crushed- 

 strawberry colour, while a few are of an amber brown. These 

 exceptionally tinted examples are all females. In spite of this 

 protective colouring, I understand that since one of the Mynahs 

 has been introduced into the Seychelles group, this Leaf Insect 

 is much less common than it used to be. 



The female is a sluggish creature, and as her ova mature she 

 becomes more and more unwieldy. The male can, and does use 

 his gauz}^ wings freely, especially after dark ; and I am always 

 careful about approaching the cage with a light, as the males are 

 apt to injure themselves by dashing against the wire gauze or 

 glass. The utmost that the female can do is to ease the severity 

 of a fall by spreading her elytra, if she misses her hold of the 

 food plant — an accident which I think seldom occurs in nature 

 as the grip of the claws is very tenacious. 



The examples which I reared during the autumn and winter 

 of 1906-1907 were, I believe, the first bred in this country. 

 The ova laid by these I distributed amongst several members 

 of the Entomological Society, at least one of whom I am 

 glad to say succeeded in rearing the insects to the imago 

 state. 



The photographs, for which I am indebted to my friend Mr. 

 Digby Legard, explain themselves. I will only add that the 

 portraits of the male Imago, and of the Nymph and Imago of 

 the female were taken from the living insects, but the Leaf 

 Insect, in its earlier stages, is so restless and fidgetty that we 

 found it impossible to photograph them from life. Therefore, 

 the portraits of the two earlier stages of the male, and the larva 

 of the female are taken from freshly-killed specimens. The 

 insects are all represented life-size. The abdomen of the male 

 larva being turned back in the natural way is foreshortened in 

 the picture, and scarcely conveys the idea of its narrowness, 

 as compared with the body of the female at a similar stage. 



I am preparing a series of this insect, in which both sexes, 

 at successive stages, will be represented, for the National Col- 

 lection at South Kensington. 



Naturalist, 



