Insect Grotesques Which 



Assume Friq'htful 



Above, a good instance of the 

 grotesqueness of many of the 

 hving insects which make up 

 the Membracidae, of which 

 more than eight hundred 

 species have been found 



At right, the well-known Bra- 

 zilian "thorn-bug," one of the 

 insects, which looks exactly 

 like a big thorn when it is at 

 rest. Its shell is hard and the 

 protruding points are sharp 



Another quaint 

 M c m b r a c i d . 

 The use, if any, 

 of tlie strange 

 extension of the 

 prothorax is un- 

 known. It is part 

 of the "back- 

 plate" that Na- 

 ture has worked 

 upon to produce 

 the varied and 

 wonderful forms 

 for which these 

 insects are so 

 remarkable 



4'J« 



