410 THE FULGORINA. 



to be so injured by this operation_, that they speedily 

 fall to the ground^ into which the young larvse, when 

 hatched, soon burrow, and then pass their preparatory 

 states feeding upon the roots of trees and plants, to 

 which they sometimes do considerable damage. The 

 perfect insects live amongst the foliage of trees and 

 shrubs, upon the juices of which they subsist. 



Of the next tribe, as indeed almost throughout the 

 Rhynchota, although we have several British species, 

 by far the greater part of the species, and all the 

 largest and finest forms, are confined to the warm 

 regions of the tropics, where the Fulgora laternaria, 

 which gives its name of Fulgorina to the tribe, flies 

 through the forests of South America with its large 

 broad wings, and, according to some naturalists, dif- 

 fuses a most beautiful light from the large lantern- 

 like appendage of the front of its head. Its possession 

 of this faculty has, however, been frequently disputed, 

 but there is no doubt at all that none of our Euro- 

 pean species are luminous. 



The Fulgorina are distinguished from the insects 

 of the preceding tribe by the possession of only two 

 ocelli, and from these and the remainder of the Ho- 

 moptera by having the antennae inserted beneath the 

 eyes. The back of the head and the face are also 

 generally marked with ridges, and the abdomen not 

 unfrequently exhibits more or less of a snow-white se- 

 cretion towards its apex. The tarsi are three-jointed. 



One of the most abundant of the British species is 

 the Cixius nervosus, which may usually be found plen- 

 tifully in the summer upon willows. It is about a 

 quarter of an inch in length, blackish, with trans- 



