CHAPTER XV. 



ORDER V. HOMOPTERA. 



OMOPTEKA ( Leach). HEMIPTERA ( Lateeille). 



The insects of this order are provided with a suctorial mouth, resembling in this respect 

 the Heteropteka, but with the mouth placed nearer the sternum. Notwithstanding this 

 resemblance, the two orders are quite distinct, and the lines of demarkation well defined. 

 The wings of the Homoptera, in the first place, are entirely membranous, and do not 

 overlap when at rest ; the antennae are short and setiform, and the tarsi number three 

 joints. The metamorposis is of that kind called semicomplete, and the pupa is therefore 

 active. 



In this order are found insects of very remarkable forms : it is true, such a remark is 

 often made respecting other orders, yet probably no insect shows more grotesqueness of 

 outline than the leafhopper. Some subdivisions of the order contain insects which singly 

 are perfectly insignificant ; yet as they increase to an enormous extent during a single 

 season, they become, from numbers alone, a formidable foe to the interests of the farmer. 



The Homoptera are divided into three families : 1 . The harvest- flies, called in sy- 

 stematic arrangement Cicadida, or cicadians ; 2. The plant-lice, Jlphididce ; and, 3. The 

 BAKK-LicE, Coccida. 



Cicadidae. 



ANTENN.E short, awl-shapcd, and terminated with a bristleform point : eyelets three ; 



wings and wing-covers inclined at the sides of the body, transparent and reticulated ; 



feet three-jointed ; integument of the body hard and firm. Females furnished with 



an ovipositor lodged in a furrow beneath the abdomen. Insects walk and fly. 



The harvest-flies are so called from the circumstance that they make their appearance 



about the time of harvest. They possess some remarkable characters which have served to 



give certain species a great notoriety, particularly the seventeen-year locust, which makes 



its visits only at intervals of seventeen years, and then in great numbers : hence its 



systematic name. Cicada septendecim. 



