38 BURMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PBODCTTTOXS. 



.... Miicli has Leon ■written about lliosc small sii<;ar niamifactorics, so well 

 known liy ants, that they have procurc'd for the ' Aphis ' tlie name of the ' aut-eow.' " 

 The viviparous Aphis not only produces a mature insect at birtli, but the new-bom 

 daughter is herself gravid with a similarly-matiired and perfect offspring, an example 

 of compound Parthenogenesis which is marvcdlous to contemplate. Viewed as some 

 writers love to represent it, as a ' Teleologieal ' arrangement, to prevent the exuberant 

 development of the 'rose,' it seems a clumsy and not very loudly called-for con- 

 trivance, for the rose is not one of those noxious or pestilent plants, like some weeds, 

 which overtax man's efforts to keep in check ; but viewed as one of the varied and 

 countless developments of creative energy, it affords us solid grounds of thankfulness 

 that our place in nature is what it is, and enables us to contemplate, and realize 

 (darkly it may be, and with wholesome limitations touching the ways of ' Madame 

 AVTiy ') the gi'andeur, the magnificence, the beauty, alike of Nature's greatest and 

 smallest works. 



Famili/ Psyllidse. 



"Woolly blights arc thus described by Dr. Mason : — " Some species which do not 

 secrete honey-dew arc of a large size, clothed with a white, cotton-like covering, and 

 when disturbed they have the habit of leaping to a considerable distance. Psyllv, sp." 



Sub-order HOMOPTERA. 



Tarsi throe-jointed. "Wings membranous, deflected. Proboscis inferior. 



The females of the Homoptera are often furnished with an ovipositor, composed 

 of a bivalve sheath, inclosing a cylindrical boring organ, whereby they are enabled 

 to deposit their eggs at some distance from the surface of the ground. The Cicndidte 

 are remarkable for their loud and piercing song. This music is confined to the males, 

 and is produced by a peculiar mechanism of membranous drums, with their appropriate 

 muscles placed in a ca^'ity at the base of the abdomen, and covered outwardly by the 

 dilated sides of the metasternum. 



Family LedridsB. 



Ledba scutellata. Walk. Burma. 



,, cuiOBATA, Walk. Burma. 



Epicldtes planata, Amyot et Serv. Tenasserim. 



Famihj Tettigoniidse. 



Tettigouia obsctjea, "Walk. Biirma. 



„ FEEEUQiNEA, Pabr. Tenasscrim. 



Famihj Cercopidse. 



Pttelus conifee, "Walk. Burma. 



P. spumarius is the common ' cuckoo spit,^ the fi'othy fluid being the nidus 

 wherein the insect is concealed. 



Ceecopis nigeipennis, Fabr. 



,, SEPTEMPUNCTATA, "Walk. 



"Plant lice," says Dr. Mason, "are often very dostnictivc to our gardens, 

 especially to sickly plants. They are not usually, I think, the Aiihidas of Euroi)e, but 

 the Cercopida;. The ants, however, manifest the same affection for them, and make 

 like efforts to obtain their honey-dew. One species may be seen covered with a 

 frothy secretion like the common ' frog-hopper,' P. .y)umaria." 



CosMOCAKTA Masoni, Dist. Teuasscrim. 



„ jiEGAMEEA, Butler. Tcnasseriui. 



„ TEicoLou, St. p. and Serv. Tenasseiim. 



