534 INSECTS AT HOME. 



in the tarsi, those which have two joints, and those which only 

 have one joint. We will begin with the first of these groups, 

 the Trimera, as they are called. All these insects have very 

 small antennae, at the end of which is a slight bristle. The 

 females possess a complicated and beautiful ovipositor, with 

 which they bore into the stems of the plants in which they 

 deposit their eggs. The structure of these borers should be 

 compared with that of the boring Hymenoptera, which have 

 already been described. Three families are contained in this 

 group, only two of which find representatives in England. 



The first of these families is called the Cicadidse, of which 

 only a single British species is known to exist. This insect is 

 too rare to have any popular name, and is called Cicada 

 anglica. A coloured representation of this interesting insect 

 is given on the frontispiece, being shown in the act of flying. 

 The colouring and appearance of this insect are so well given 

 in the illustration that there is no need for further description 

 on that head. In all the Cicadidse the head is short, broad, 

 and transverse, with three ocelli set in a triangle on the back 

 of the head, and two very large and prominent compound eyes. 

 The beak is three-jointed. 



This is a rare insect, but is occasionally found in various 

 parts of the kingdom, never, I believe, extending its journeys 

 towards the northern counties. The New Forest is one of the 

 localities where it is most frequently found. In ' The Entomo- 

 logist's Monthly Magazine,' vol. i. page 171, is an account by 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett of the capture of a female Cicada in Surrey. 

 The insect was ' flying in the sunshine down a grassy side, and 

 pitched rather suddenly among some rushes and long grass 

 which were growing in a wide open space at a bend of the path, 

 where I managed to secure it. Its strong membranous wings 

 made a rustling sound similar to that produced by dragon-flies, 

 but, being a female, it of course made no other noise whatever. 

 I am pretty certain that I saw another specimen a few days 

 afterwards, flying by the same spot (one of the warmest and 

 most sheltered nooks in the neighbourhood), but its flight was 

 so rapid that there was no chance of capturing it.' 



The males are usually taken by being beaten out of the 

 white thorn, while the females haunt the common bracken fern, 



