104 



Marvels of Insect Life. 



Photo by] 



Nymph of Box-Sucker. 



[E. Step, F.L.S. 



This Insect may be found upon almost any box-tree sucking at 

 the sap, and more or less hidden by a long ribbon of cotton-like 

 material proceeding from its own body. Magnified four times. 



sucker. 1 In its early stages it is dark 

 yellow and sucks the leaves and the base 

 of the new shoots. The perfect Insect is 

 at first green with red eyes, but later it 

 becomes more or less marked with red- 

 brown and black. The apple-sucker is 

 greenish-\'ellow, with dark tips to the 

 incessantly waved antennae, and the 

 pointed tip of the hind-bodv is turned 

 up abruptly. Although at times very 

 abundant, it does not occur in such vast 

 numbers as those of the pear-sucker. 

 Fruit-growers are of opinion that the 

 continuous sucking of these myriads at 

 the young shoots and leaf-buds causes 

 a serious impoverishment of the crops. 

 Spraying with a solution of soft soap to which creosote oil has been added appears to 

 be the most effectual remedy. 



Man}^ other plants are attacked by different species. The lerp, or leaf-manna, 

 of Australia is the exudation of one that feeds upon the eucalyptus, and takes the 

 form of a covering scale, which is collected and used as food. One- of our fifty 

 native species is found on rushes, and may easily be overlooked as one of the seeds 



of the plant, which it resembles closely. 

 It is brown in colour, and its identification 

 may be helped also by the appearance of 

 two long " ears " produced by the en- 

 larged basal joints of the antennae. Then 

 there is another family of jumpers,^ which 

 are something of a compromise between 

 the Psyllas and the frog-hoppers. When 

 the wings are folded they fit close to the 

 back and sides, and they jump by carr3dng 

 the thighs of the hind pair of legs pressed 

 forward, and suddenly extending them 

 when occasion requires that the Insect 

 should depart. These hind-legs are fringed 

 with stiff spines like the leaping legs of the 

 grasshopper. The adjoining photograph is 

 of a common species found abundantly 

 under the leaves of elm and bramble. 



Photo by] \E. Step, F.L.S. 



Elm-Sucker. 



An exceedingly abundant Insect on elms and low vegetation. 

 The shanks of the hind-legs bear a row of spines which assist in 

 jumping. The empty skin of the nymph will be seen a little to 

 the left. Magnified five times. 



The Humble- Bee's Cuckoo. 



There are many strange parallels to 

 be found in different branches of natural 

 history. One of these is the similarity of 



^ Psylla pj'i'i. 



- Livia iuncoriim. 



Jassida;. 



