FROG-HOPPER FULGORID.E. 



553 



THE PITPIT-FROG (R. halecina). Rather smaller 

 than the former ; green above, with brown spots, and 

 yellow dots in the centre. This species has been 

 confounded with' the bull-frog ; but, besides the dif- 

 ference in colour, it is much longer in proportion to 

 the thickness, and still more agile, being capable of 

 leaping fifteen or eighteen feet at one bound. It is 

 very common in the marshy places of the southern 

 states of America, and its noise is even more dis- 

 agreeable than that of the bull-frog properly so called. 

 This, however, is one of the bull-frogs of America. 



EYE-SPOTTED FROG (R. ocellata). This is a very 

 large species, and inhabits to the southward of the 

 former one, as that appears to do of the common bull- 

 frog. It has been found in Guiana as well as in those 

 parts of North America which border on the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and which are remarkable for the abundance 

 of aquatic reptiles of all kinds. Its general colour, 

 on the upper part, is brown, and that on the under 

 part white ; and there are very distinct eye-spots on 

 the flanks and sides. 



GRUNTING FROG (R. grunniens). This species is 

 very nearly equal in size to the bull-frog. Its colours 

 are a mixture of brown and bluish and reddish, with 

 yellow spots in the rear of the eyes. It is found in 

 the Floridas, and also in shady places of the West 

 Indian islands, where it is vulgarly called a toad. It 

 seldom comes abroad except during the night. The 

 country people, in some of the islands, are said to 

 rear this species in a domestic state, and they find its 

 flesh very nourishing. It is very active in the rainy 

 season, and can jump over an inclosure five feet in 

 height ; but during the dry season it becomes inert, 

 and passes its time in a sort of hybernation ; thus 

 affording evidence that the dry season, notwithstand- 

 ing its excessive heat, is the real winter in tropical 

 climates. 



THE NOISY FROG (R. clamitans}. This species has 

 been found in the marshes of Carolina, not far from 

 Charleston. In form it approaches the common 

 frog of Europe, and its length is not above two inches. 

 Its colour is dull ash, irregularly spotted with small 

 black points ; and, notwithstanding its comparatively 

 minute size, the din which it makes is said to be more 

 intolerable than that of even the larger frogs. 



Such is at least a specimen of the foreign frogs, 

 but it comprises only a very small portion of the 

 number. The Surinam frogs and the bull-frogs are, 

 however, the most renowned, the former for their fabu- 

 lous history, and the latter for their intolerable noise, 

 in the practice of which they actually drown the bel- 

 lowing of the night herons, the hissing of the serpents, 

 the yelping of the prairie dogs, and the whole concert 

 of villainous sounds which vex the ear of night in the 

 wilds of America. There are several species in South 

 America, in the south of Asia, in the Oriental Isles, 

 ; " <hort, in every part of the world ; and it should 

 seem tin. these foreigners are, generally speaking, 

 more noisy than the natives of Europe. It is said, 

 that one brought from the Mauritius to Paris sere- 

 naded in so strong and harsh a key, as to drive the 

 evening promenaders from the whole Champ de Mars, 

 so that they were under the necessity of putting a 

 summary stop to his music. 



We shall not enlarge more upon this exceedingly 

 numerous, and by no means unvaluable genus of rep- 

 tiles ; but we may have occasion to notice a little 

 more of the duties which the batrachia have to per- 

 form in the general economy of nature, when we come 



to notice the other two genera or sub-genera, which 

 we propose to do under the titles TREE-FROG and 

 TOAD, in their proper order in the alphabet, 



FROG-HOPPER, or CUCKOO SPIT-INSECT. The 

 small insect known under the systematic name of 

 Cercopis spumaria. See the article CERCOPID^:. 



FROG ORCHIS is the Gymnadenia viridis of 

 Richard, a common British plant found in damp mea- 

 dows. It is the Satyrium viride of Linnaeus. 



FUCHSIA (Linnaeus). A genus of beautiful 

 flowering shrubs, natives chiefly of South America. 

 Class and order Octandria Monogynia, and natural 

 order Onograrice. Generic character : calyx tubular 

 and coloured, the limb five-cleft ; petals fixed to the 

 throat of the calyx, connivent, and convolute ; sta- 

 mens included, joined in a double series to the tube 

 of the calyx, or protruding alternately short and 

 longer ; anthers oval and erect ; pollen glutinous and 

 triangular ; style filiform ; style headed or four-cleft ; 

 berry four-celled, four-valved, and many seeded. 

 This is one of our most common greenhouse plants, 

 and will stand in the open air if defended from frost. 

 It is easy of propagation by cuttings, and deservedly 

 a great favourite. There are nearly a score of differ- 

 ent species and varieties of it in our collections. 



FULGORID^E (Leach). A family of hemipterous 

 insects belonging to the sub-order Homoptcra,Latrei\\e, 

 and to the division Cicadaria;, being destitute of organs 

 for producing a sound, having the antennae inserted 

 beneath the eyes, only three-jointed, terminated by a 

 long slender bristle ; two ocelli or none ; legs formed 

 for leaping, and the front of the head produced into 

 a kind of snout, variable in size and form in the 

 various species. Here belong the genera Fulgore, 

 Otiocerus, Lystra, Cixius, Pceciloptera, Issus, Anotia, 

 Asiraca, Delphax (which see), Derbe, and several 

 other genera recently established upon structural 

 characters. 



Of the habits of these insects but little is known, 

 they are herbivorous in all their states, sucking the 

 juices of plants by means of their long-jointed proboscis, 

 which is ordinarily concealed, laying along the breast. 

 In the typical genus Fulgora, are placed the largest 

 species of the family, having the ocelli distinct, and 

 two in number; the antennae are destitute of appen- 

 dages, and the front of the head is produced into a 

 large hollow snout-like proboscis, respecting which 

 great differences have prevailed amongst naturalists ; 

 this part of the body being generally considered as 

 emitting a very bright light, whence the insects have 

 derived the name of lantern flies. And it is said, 

 that the luminous matter is diffused through the hol- 

 low semitransparent projection of the head. Of these 



Fulgfora laternaria. 



the Chinese Fulgora candelaria, and the South Ame- 

 rican F. laternaria are the more conspicuous. If 

 this be the case, it must be evident from the large 



