LEAF INSECT. One of those of Ceylon, the true leaf insect, is the Phyllium siccifolium. It eats leaves, and those of the jambo in particular. The Phyllium psyche, common in the East Indies, is called the walking leaf. It seems, indeed, to be a bunch of leaves endowed with life. A writer of the 17th century gravely related that `these little animals change into a green and tender plant which is about two hands'-breadth. The feet are fixed into the ground first ; from those, when necessary, humidity is attracted, roots grow out, and strike into the ground ; thus they change by degrees, and in a short time become a perfec6 plant, while the upper part remains as before, living and moveable. After some time the animal is gradually converted into a plant.' The edges of the wings seem torn and ragged, and, moreover, stained with dirty brown, as if from incipient decay. Upon close inspection, the jagged margin and the stained spots that imitate decay, are observed to be as carefully executed as the ocelli that ornament the gayest butterfly. The leaf insect moults its skin three times, each time mak ing a gradual advance towards its perfect form. The third time the full-grown wings and antennae are produced. After each moulting time body of the animal is soft and tender, and in a few minutes expands to a larger size. In the course
of half an hour its body and wings acquire their proper firmness, and the insect is prepared to enter upon its appointed course of life. Looking at this curious insect, it is impossible not to feel what must be the goodness and superintending love of a Being who with such minute care pro tects and provides for a creature apparently so bumble and so insignificant. The twig-like leaf insect is a species of Phasma. The Mantis religiose, or the soothsayer, le precheur and le prie Dieu of the French, is a predacious insect devourer, catching butterflies and other insects with its formidably armed fore legs, and then devouring its captives. Hooker, in his Himalayan Journal, mentions that the predacious mantis was erroneously supposed by the natives to feed on leaves.
From the Phasma type have been produced the narrow, green or yellow, wingless Bacilli ; . when clinging to a plant they stretch out rigidly their elongated limbs, so as to assume the appearance of a slender plant.
The flattened and rugged lobed, mossy-looking Prisopi and Creonyli, when the wings are folded, cannot be distinguished from a piece of lichen covered bark. — Churchman's Family Magazine. See Insects ; Mantis ; Phasma ; Phyllinni.