48 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE. 



Suborder HOMOPTERA. 



The name of this suborder is derived from two Greek words, homos, 

 the same, and pteron, a wing. Its members differ from those of the 

 other suborder in that the wings are of the same texture throughout, 

 there being no difference in the two pairs of wings. The wings when 

 at rest are usually sloping, like the roof of a house. They have no 

 neck, the head being closely attached to the thorax, and this connec- 

 tion is so close that in many species the beak seems to exude from the 

 thorax itself and to arise from between the fore legs. This suborder is 

 divided into nine families, which are given by Comstock, as follows: 



The Cicadas. Family Cicadidse. 

 The Lantern-tiy family. Family Fulgoridse. 

 The Spittle Insects. Family Cercopidse. 

 The Leaf-hoppers. Family Jassidae. 

 The Tree-hoppers. Family Membracidae. 

 The Jumping Plant-lice. Family Psyllidse. 

 The Plant-lice. Family Aphididse. 

 The Aleyrodes. Family Aleyrodidae. 

 The Scale-bugs. Family Coccidse. 



In looking over this list, it will be noticed that here we have a great 

 part of the more injurious pests of the farmer and fruit-grower. In 

 fact, in the whole of this suborder there are not any that are not pests, 

 and many of them the worst of the insect enemies with which we have 

 to contend. 



Professor Uhler, our authority in this order of insects, writes that 

 "this grand division of the order contains the greatest number of large 

 species, and the widest range of diversity in the forms of all stages. 

 Comparatively few are destitute of wings, except in one sex of the lowest 

 group; but some have these organs short and unfinished, and it is but 

 very rarely that we meet with one of this kind fully winged. This 

 division is also remarkable for the blunt face and backward pressed 

 elements of the head and breast, thus carrying the rostrum far under- 

 neath. Both kinds of eyes are generally present; the compound ones 

 being generally large and prominent, while the single ones, ocelli, are 

 like little convex gems, placed between the larger eyes on the vertex or 

 front, but occasionally, as in Fulgoridse, on the sides of the cheeks, 

 between the latter and the antennae. There are usually two ocelli, 

 although in Cicadidae and most Psyllidae they are three in number and 

 are placed in front, forming a triangle. The antennae are usually 

 situated in the hollow between the eyes, and are composed 'of a few 

 expanded joints at the base, with a tapering, slender, bristle-shaped 

 termination. Exceptions occur in Psyllidae, Aphididae, and Coccidae, 



