392 W. D. FUNKHOUSER 



one plant to the other is never great. Usually the nymph merely falls or 

 creeps to the ground and finds a satisfactory food plant under the tree 

 on which it was hatched. 



The adults avoid flights of any distance, and if disturbed they generally 

 leave the twig with a quick leap, fly rapidly in a short circle, and return 

 to the plant from which they were driven. Even in a series of trees close 

 together, all of the same kind and all inhal^ited by membracids of the same 

 species, it is unusual to see the insect fly from one tree to another. 



The greatest amount of movement noted in the field, is found in fields 



of sweet clover or alfalfa, in which the msects may fly erratically about 



when disturbed. 



HABITS 



The Membracidae are sun-loving insects and are found oftenest on 

 plants growing in open fields, along roadsides, and at the edges of timber. 

 They are seldom seen in shady woods. In practicafly all cases they seem 

 to prefer the younger plants; the tree-inhabiting species are most likely 

 to be found on saplings, or, if on older trees, on the youngest twigs. Most 

 forms stay close to the ground, and even those species that live on trees 

 of considerable size are usually on branches not over twenty feet from 

 the ground. 



The adults have the interesting habit of ranging themselves in rows 

 on the branches (Plate xli, 1), often thirty or forty individuals placing 

 themselves so close together that their bodies almost touch one another 

 and remaining in this position for hours at a time. In the large majority 

 of cases the adult rests with its head pointing toward the base of the 

 branch, or pointing downward if it is on the trunk. By actual count 

 over nine-tenths of the individuals noted in a test to establish this fact 

 were found in this position (Plate xli, 2). Whether this characteristic 

 attitude is assumed in order to increase their resemblance to the thorns, 

 twigs, or irregularities of growth of their host would be a matter of con- 

 jecture. The nymphs are usually found tightly flattened in crevices of 

 the bark or pressed closely in the axil of a leaf or the crotch of a twig. 

 In most cases the coloration of the nymphs is such that they arc 

 not easily seen when in such positions. The protective resemblance 

 in many cases is strengthened by the presence of the dorsal spines of the 

 immature insect, which carry out leaf and bark outlines to an extent 

 which conduces to a most effective concealment. 



