262 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packakd. 



verruculata) is especially abundant on burnt lands and ele- 

 vated hill tops or in mountain valleys, where it harmonizes 

 well with the soil. The maritime grasshopper {Trimero- 

 tropis maritima) is, lilce the maritime tiger beetle, specially 

 adapted for concealment pn thio sea shore, as observed by 

 Mr. Scudder, who says "it so closely resembles the color of 

 the sand on a sea beach that it is difficult to see it when 

 alighted." It differs remarkably from its inland allies by 

 the white or pale bands and spots. 



How protective mimicry may affect the different species 

 of a genus is shown in the common red-legged grasshoppers. 

 The spretus of the west, and the femur-rubriwi of the east, 

 harmonize in color with the brown hues of the grass lands 

 in August and September, but the large two-banded one 

 (Caloptenus bivittatus), so abundant during the same months 

 in our gardens, in its green coat with yellow stripes, agrees 

 with the green and 5-ellow tints of our garden vegetables, 

 among the leaves of which it lives. From its comparatively 

 sedentary habits it grows larger and much more clumsy than 

 its lean and agile congeners. 



There are numberless little froth or spittle insects, such 

 as the green Helochara communis and the russet Ptyelus 

 Uneatris, our commonest spittle insect, which pass their 

 youth in concealment in masses of froth on the stems of 

 grass in June. These masses of bubbles would be easily 

 mistaken for drops of dew, or at least not suspected of con- 

 taining any living beings. The bright pea-green leaf hopper 

 abounds late in summer with others of its ilk in the highly 

 colored grasses of damp places, which retain their freshness 

 late in the autumn. On the other hand, the Ptyelus in its 

 brown dress harmonizes with the hues of the upland fields 

 which have turned brown by the summer droughts. Many 

 other hemipterous insects, however gayly colored after they 

 fly about, in their early wingless stages are green, like the 

 herbage in which they hide. The common squash bug (Fig. 



G 



