FROG-HOPPERS. 213 



Family III. — iVembracidce.. 



Antennae very short, three-jointed, inserted in front of the 

 eyes ; ocelli two ; prothorax prolonged beyond the abdomen, and 

 sometimes covering the whole body. 



This family is chiefly remarkable for the extraordinary shapes 

 assumed by the prothorax. It would be useless to attempt to 

 describe them ; but some of the most curious are figured liere. 

 Membmcis Foliata, Linn., is dark brown, varied with yellow; it 

 occurs in Brazil, and is about half an inch in length. Smilia 

 Fasciafa, Amyot, is greenish brown, with a yellow band on the 

 enlarged thorax ; it is North American, and measures one-third of 

 an inch in length. (Eda Inflata, Fabr., from Brazil, is reddish 

 yellow, reticulated with brown, and with arow of black dots on each 

 side; and is of about the same size as the last mentioned species. 



Family IV. — Cercopidce. 



Head triangular ; ocelli two ; antennae placed just in front of the 

 eyes, three-jointed, terminating in a bristle; scutellum large, tri- 

 angular, and exposed ; prothorax not projecting above the abdomen, 

 hind legs spineless, or with from one to three spines in a single line. 



The Froghoppers are small insects, common among grass and 

 bushes in the summer ; they much resemble Cicadidce in miniature. 

 One of the prettiest species is Triecphora SanguinoJcnta, Linn., 

 which is about a quarter of an inch in length, and varied with black 

 and red. A much commoner insect is the Cuckoo-spit (A^yJiiv- 

 phoraSpumaria, Linn.), which is about the same size, but yellowish 

 grey, with two paler bands on the fore wings. This insect can make 

 a prodigious leap in proportion to its size. Some say that it can 

 spring to a distance of two yards. Its yellow larva may often be 

 seen on grass or other low plants, enveloped in a mass of froth, 

 which has given rise to the name of Cuckoo-spit. The extreme 

 vagueness of the notions Avhich many people possess of Entomology 

 is amusingly illustrated by a paragraph which I met with recently 

 among the answers to correspondents in some horticultural jour- 

 nal : " The cuckoo-spit is the soft or larval body (!) of a Ijrown 

 jumping insect of the Homopterous Order, named Aphrojjhora 

 Spumaria " ! ! 



Family V. — Tettlgonmke. 



Hind tibiae with a double row of spines beneath ; body narrow, 

 eloniiated ; ocelli, when present, placed on the vertex. 



