BRITISH CICADA. 



Genus II.— CENTEOTUS, Fah. 

 But one species of this genus is known in Britain. 



Centrotus cornutus, Linn. Plate II., figs. 1 to 7. 



Cicada fusca, DeGeer, tab. 11, fig. 22. 

 Cicada cormita, Scop., Linn. 

 Memhracis cornuta, Fab., Panz., Geoff. 

 Centrotus cornutus, Burm., Marsh., Sahl., Fieb., 

 Cicad. d'Eur. pt. ii. 10 ; Edw. p 47. 



Antennae with two basal joints, and a third longer 

 joint furnished with a seta. Frons nearly straight. 

 Ocelli two, but not easily seen behind the yellow 

 pubescence which clothes the face and head. Pro- 

 notum trapezoidal ; the hinder portion produced nearly 

 to the tail into a horn-like process, of varying diameter. 

 A suture extends throughout its upper edge to the 

 junction with the head. A much blunter horny ex- 

 pansion, on each side, extends far over the wing- 

 msertions, and partly conceals the scutellum. Viewed 

 sideways, the scutellum may be seen under the dorsal 

 horn. Elytra rufous by ordinary light, but bright 

 bronzy by glancing light. Apical cells five. Femora 

 with annuliform dots. 



The female has the last ventral segment deeply 

 notched. The male has no genital valve ; laminae 

 connate, with a convex appendage, the two last abdo- 

 minal segments being carinated in the middle. — Sahl. 



This insect viewed from the front has a grotesque 

 appearance, somewhat resembling a face surmounted 

 by horns. The fancy of the French peasant has, like 

 that of other countries, united the solemn to the 

 hideous, and has found in this insect a Mediaeval like- 

 ness to " the great Accuser." Geoffrey, De Geer, and 

 Reaumur note that this insect in their days was, as 

 now, popularly called " le petit Diable." 



The distribution of C. cornutus is wide. It extends 



