FAM. MEMBRACIDiE 7 



If approached, the insect usually moves around to the opposite side of the twig or stem and 

 makes no attempt to fly, except as a last resort in escaping. A slowly approaching object is not readilj' 

 noticed, and the insect may usually be touched with the finger before it moves if care is taken to make 

 the movement of the hand very slow and deliberate; a sharp, quick movement in the direction of the 

 insect, on the other hand, results in its immediate fiight. Few membracids respond quickly to stimuli 

 of light or heat; the light from a mirror or the condensed rays of the sun as projected through a lens 

 have little effect on the resting insect if no other stimuH are present. Rain causes the membracid to 

 move to the underside of the stem or leaf, but a strong wind merely causes it to cling more tightly to 

 its host without change of position. 



In feeding, the insects display no pecuiiarities and the process is a leisurely one. The beak of 

 the membracid, while not particularly strong, is well fitted for piercing, being robust and heavy and 

 fitted with bristle-Hke mandibular and maxillary setse. Both nymphs and adults have Uttle difificulty 

 in forcing the beak into the young stems and petioles of the leaves, the parts of the plant on which they 

 most commonly feed. It is doubtful whether in all cases the labrum or the labium actually enter the 

 tissue, since it seems possible for the insect to make a sufificient puncture with the setae alone. A few 

 species, notably Entylia bactriana, Enchenopa binotata and Atymna castanta in North America, and 

 Gargara projecta in the Malay Peninsula, have been observed feeding on the blades of leaves, but 

 this is unusual. Feeding may be observed at almost any hour of the day, depending on the species, 

 but the most favored time appears to be the middle of the afternoon. Very little energy is displayed 

 in the feeding movements. The insects remain in one spot for a long time, seeming to find an 

 inexhaustible supply of sap at each insertion of the mouth parts, and they show little disposition to 

 seek new feeding places. So deeply and firmly is the beak sometimes buried in the tissue of the host, 

 and so absorbed do the insects appear to be while obtaining food, that often the mouthparts are broken 

 off in collecting and are left in the stem or leaf when the specimen is captured. 



The process of feeding in some species is accompanied by tiie close attendance of ants. It is 

 presumed that the presence of the ants is to be explained by their well-known habits of seeking the 

 honeydew secreted by the membracids. A large number of observations, however, have suggested 

 that possibly there may be another reason for the presence of ants at this time. In many cases the 

 ants have been found grouped about the head of the membiacid, as though sharing the sap drawn from 

 the stem. Whether or not the ant would be able to make use of such sap» is not known, i)ut the 

 phenomenon has been noticed so many times that it seems unreasonable to believe it accidental. 

 Be that as it may, the membracids seem in no wa}' disturbed by the attention of the ants, and continue 

 the feeding process without noticing their presence. 



A study of the locomotion of the Membracida does not justify the use of the term « tree hopper » 

 as popularly applied to the family, particularly in the United States. Of the three methods of locomotion 

 — flying, walking and jumping — the last is certainly the least used. 



Most membracids fly well for short distances, with a sharp, whirring flight which in most cases is 

 too rapid and too erratic to be foUowed by the eye. The flights, however, are seldom sustained for any 

 great distance. The longest flights ever actually measured by the writer were one of fifty yards from 

 one tree to another made by a female of Telamona unicolor in Tompkins County, New York, and one of 

 seventy-five yards across an open glade in the forest near EHsabethvilie, South Africa, made by a female 

 of Oxyrhachis subserrata. In each case the insect pursued a rather irregular course, swinging for several 

 feet from one side to the other of a straight line in the flight. Specimens of Atymna castanea in the 

 United States and of Triceutrus truncaticornis in Sumatra have been taken while flying around Hghts so it 

 is evident that these species, at least, have the power of remaining on the wing for some little time. 



