pretty broad. The anterior legs are long and thick, light brown clouded with dusky, the trochanters without a terminal spine; middle and hinder legs with a heart-shaped expansion near the apex of the thighs, and another of smaller size behind the middle of the tibiæ; the latter armed with two spines at the tip.
This insect is a native of Tranquebar and other places on the Coromandel coast.
Fam. Phasmidæ.
Although formerly confounded under the same name, the differences between Phasma and Mantis seem to be even more than generic, and sufficient to justify the establishment of two separate families. The spectres indeed, at first sight, appear to own but little connection with any other insect, their facies or general aspect being altogether peculiar. It is not till after a pretty careful examination of their structure that their relations become apparent. This is particularly the case with the apterous species, in which the essential characters appear, as it were, in such a disguise, that on a cursory inspection doubt may be entertained even about the order to which they belong. Some of the winged species, however, shew a more obvious affinity to the tribes with which they are usually associated.
This family is at once distinguished from the preceding one by all the legs being of equal dimensions, or nearly so. The head is large, rounded-oval, and usually borne somewhat horizontally; the antennæ
