Show Au STALIA IA WALKING LEAVES lr ives almost everybody has heard of the wonderful walkin waikin walking leaves of australia for a long time after lma tha discovery of that island 2 many people really believed that the leaves of a certain tree which flourished nourished there could walk about tha the ground the story aros aroas inthis in this way some english sailors landed upon the coast one day and after roaming about anjil until they were tired they sat down under a tree themselves A puff of wind came along and blew lew off a shower of leaves which after turning over and over in the air as leaves generally do finally rested upon the ground As it was midsummer and everything quite green the circumstance puzzled the sailors considerably but their surprise was much greater 0 as yon yoa may well sup suppose ose when after a short time they saw the treaves leaves crawling along the ground towards the trunk of tho the tree they ran at once for their vessel without stopping to examine into the matter at all and set sail from the land where everything seemed to be bewitched one of the men said sald that he expected every moment to see the trees sat to and dance a jig subsequent Sab sequent explorations of australia alavo havo bavo taught us usi that these leaves are insects they live upon the trees their bodies aro ara ver very y thin and flat their wings forming iara larb lar larga lara a leaf like organs when they are disturbed C their legs are folded away under their bodies leaving the shape exactly like a leaf with its ita stem and all corr cori piete they are of a bright green color in the summer but they gradually change in the fall with tha the beaves leaves to the brown of a frost bit bitten ten ter vegetation when shaken from the tree they lie ile for a few minutes upon the gro ground ind as though they were dead but bui presently they begin to crawl along towards the tree which they ascend again they aarel rarely y use their wings although they are pretty well supplied in this respect I 1 L ex eio |