VIII 



FULGORIDAE 



575 



longed so as to form a projection or growth that may lie monstrous. 

 Prothorax neither armed nor unusually developed. 



This family is of large extent, and includes at present so great 

 a variety of forms that it is really almost impossible to frame a 

 definition that will apply to all. The unusual situation of the 

 ocelli and the peculiar second joint of the antennae must at 

 present be taken as the best diagnostic characters : occasionally a 

 third ocellus is present. Some of the Fulgoridae are amongst the 

 largest Insects, others are quite small. The family includes tl it- 

 so-called Lantern-flies, in which the front of the head forms a huge 

 misshapen proboscis that was formerly believed to be luminous. 



FIG. 282. Ftilgora canddaria. x 1. China. 



Many of the species are of brilliant or beautiful coloration. A 

 great many and of very different kinds have the curious power 

 of excreting large quantities of a white, flocculent wax. This is 

 exhibited by our little British Insects of the genus Cixius, and in 

 some of the exotic forms is carried to an extent that becomes a, 

 biological puzzle. The Tropical American genus Phenax may be 

 cited as an example ; being about an inch long it flies about with 

 a large mass of this waxy substance twice as long as itself; 

 indeed, in the Mexican P. auricoma, the waxy processes are four 

 or five inches long. This wax forms a favourite food of cert ;i in 

 kinds of Lepidoptera, and two or three larvae of a maggot-like 

 nature may frequently be found concealed in the wax of the live. 

 Fulgorids ; this has been recorded by "VVestwood as occurring 

 in India; and Champion has observed it in the Xe\v AYorld. 1 



1 P. ent. tioc. London, 1883, ]>. 20. 



