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TREE-HOPPERS. 105 
sometimes we find them sitting in rows, young and old, but as 
soon as we approach them with the finger they slide around to 
the opposite side of the twig, and fly or leap away. They are 
still more protected by the patterns of their markings, which 
blend well with the surroundings. A few secrete honey-dew, 
like the true plant-lice, and their presence can be detected by the 
ants, who eat this sweet material. 
This is a large family and only a few of the more common 
forms can be mentioned. 
Entilia sinuata Fab. This curious being, illustrated in Fig. 
gg, is very common upon a variety of plants. It is somewhat par- 
tial to sun-flowers, which sometimes show the effect of their pres- 
ence by looking scorched, and no wonder, as the insect is gregari- 
ous, and as many as six hundred have been counted upon a single 
plant. The eggs are laid in the midrib of the leaf, almost in- 
Fic. 99.—Entilia sinuata Fab. Adultenlarged. After insect life, Div. of 
Entomology, Dept. of Agriculture. 
variably on the underside. They begin to hatch early in Sep- 
tember. The young larva is pale green, thickly dotted with black, 
and does not resemble the adult in the least. Mrs. Rice has pub- 
lished an account of these curious beings in Insect Life. She 
says that “almost every colony was guarded by one or more ants. 
One colony consisted of many larve and perfect insects, each 
group guarded by medium sized ants, which were all black, ex- 
cept the central portion of the body, which is brown. When I 
raised a leaf to examine closer the ants gave battle and bit my 
finger. I gently drew them away, when every insect, perfect 
and larve, began to scatter with astonishing alacrity all over the 
plant. The ants returned and ‘rounded them up’ exactly as a 
collie does sheep, placing one ant as guard if the colony was 
small, more if large. When one strays away an ant at once 
goes after it, and with infinite patience gently drives it home 
