Jumping Plant-Lice. 



lor 



Pholo by] II. Bditm. 



Gkub ok Gall-Wasp. 

 The common bullet gall of the oak is cut open to show the grub for 

 whose sustenance the gall was formed. It feeds upon the spongy 

 material of its nest, but does not consume any great quantity. 



Jumping Plant-Lice. 



Frequently we may see about 

 apple- and pear-trees in June large 

 numbers of small, prettily coloured 

 Insects ^ that remind us of green-fly by 

 their general shape, and of frog-hoppers 

 by their leaping habits. Those upon 

 the pear are coloured dark red, those 

 upon the apple are clear yellow. 

 Before you have had time to look at 

 one properly it takes a strong leap and, 

 spreading its verv delicate wings, has 

 vanished. This is, of course, the fully 

 developed Insect ; but if in spring the 

 young shoots, the under sides of the 

 leaf, and especially the cluster of 

 newly expanding leaves at the ex- 

 tremity of the shoot, be examined, we 

 shall in all probability find the earlier 

 stages represented. They may be solitary individuals or in clusters, feeding like 

 green-fly, and passed over as such by the careless observer. A comparison of 

 representatives of the two families of Insects, however, will show distinct differences. 

 They are rather larger than green-fly in their wingless condition, have shorter antennae, 

 shorter legs, and the body is broader and flatter, sparsely covered with long hairs, 

 and not so delicate in texture. Like the 

 green-fly they have a long rostrum or 

 sucking beak, which is plunged into 

 the tissues of a leaf or tender shoot of 

 their fa\-ourite plant, and the sap 

 continuously drawn through it. This 

 method of feeding, though tlie same 

 as that adopted b\- the green-fly, has 

 caused these particular Insects to be 

 distinguished by horticultural writers 

 as suckers. Again, as in the green-fly, 

 the surplus fluid from which they have 

 abstracted all the nourishment they 

 require is got rid of in the form of 

 hone\--dew, often in great (piantity, 

 rendering the foliage sticky. They are 

 sometimes immersed in this fluid, 



which pours off the leaves, but they I'mnoby] ji.Haitm. 



J ^ . . . . i\ ( ' Chrysalis of Gall-W asi\ 



do not lash it mtO hotll, as tlie trOg- a similar gaU cut through at a Uuer date to show that the grub has 

 1 1 I i^i in 1 become a chrysalis. Both photographs show the Insect about three 



hoppers do. in the case ol tlie apple- and a half times the natural size. 



1 Psvllidae. 



