3o THE ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



The second section of Hemiptcra, called Homoptera, includes 

 the CicadidcB (of which we have only one rare species in Eng- 

 land), the Frog-hoppers, Plant-lice, Bark-lice, etc. The Frog- 

 hopper (Aphrophora Spumaria] is about half an inch long, and 

 has greyish fore wings and transparent hind wings, and a broad 

 head. . It flies as well as leaps ; and its larva is found in a mass 

 of froth attached to the stems of grass, etc. ; this substance being 

 known in country places as "cuckoo-spit." The Aphides, or 



Cercopis Sanguinolenta (Magnified). 



Plant-lice, are small insects of a brown or green colour, some 

 of which are wingless, and others provided with large wings. 

 They are very destructive to plants, exhausting their vitality 

 by sucking the sap ; and they exude a sweet substance called 

 *' honey-dew," of which ants are very fond. They are popu- 

 larly called " Smother Flies " ; and different broods of the same 

 species exhibit very different forms, some colonies being wing- 

 less, and living at the roots of plants, while their progeny are 

 winged, and infest trees or plants in the open air. Many broods 

 consist entirely of females capable of reproducing their kind ; 

 while other broods of the same species consist both of males 

 and females. 



The Ccccid&t or Bark -lice, also infest plants, but their habits 

 are very different, the body of the wingless female forming a 

 scale-like covering for her eggs after she has finished laying. 

 In some cases, as in the Apple Blight, the female is covered 

 with a cottony down. The dye called Cochineal is yielded by 

 an exotic species. 



The last Order of insects is that of the Diptera, or Two- 

 winged Flies, in which the second pair of wings is rudimentary, 

 consisting of a pair of organs resembling drum-sticks, called 

 balancers or poisers. Only a few representatives of this ex- 

 tensive Order can be noticed here. They are suctorial insects 

 in their perfect state, and feed on a great variety of animal 

 and vegetable substances. Their metamorphoses are complete. 



