Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from American Entomology, or Descriptions of the Insects of North America: Illustrated by Coloured Figures From Original Drawings Executed From Nature
We are told that there was a time, when a piece of wood was transformed into a serpent, and even in the present age of knowledge, a hair fallen from the mane or tail of a horse into a stream of water, is believed by many to become animated into a distinct being; dead leaves shed by the parent tree are said to change gradually into animals of singular shape, and to have changed their place of abode under the eye of the historian who related the wonderful tale; Bdead sticks also were said to sprout legs, to move from place to place, and perform all the func tions of a living body. These, and a thousand other equally ridiculous tales, were at one period or another, more or less generally admitted as indisputable truths, and to contradict them would only be to expose oneself to the imputation of ignorance or criminal faithlessness. And al though at present the possibility of making a living serpent out of wood, and the story of ani mated leaves and sticks would be despised as absurd, yet many are to be found, both in Eu rope and America, who firmly believe in the reanimation of a horsehair. But the most obvious errors have often a shadow of truth whereon to rest, or palliate, if not excuse them by the plea of ignorance or mistake. The historian of the walking leaf may have been deceived by the mantis siccifolium of Linn�, the wings of which have some resemblance to a leaf. The Gon mus resembles a horsehair, and no doubt gave rise to the story of the metamorphosis above mentioned, and the account of the walking sticks may have very honestly originated from the sin gular appearance and form of some insect of the present genus. These are long, slender and cylindrical; and on a first view it is not a little plate 87 81 38.difficult to reconcile their appearance to our pre conceived ideas of the general insect form. They are nevertheless perfectly inoffensive, and feed altogether on vegetables. They are, probably, indebted for safety from the attacks of their ene mies the birds, to their deceptive appearance, and by their general similarity in point of co lour to the object on which they rest.
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