CICADID^E, OR CICADAS, 



187 



toothed saws ; and with this they make incisions into the leaves 

 and stems of plants. This Order may be divided into sections, 

 like the Coleoptera, according to the number of joints in the 

 tarsi. These sections are only three in number : in the first, 

 TRIMERA, the tarsi are three-jointed ; in the second, DIMERA, 

 they are but taro-jointed ; and in the third, MONOMERA, they 

 have but one joint. 



716. Section I. TRIMERA. The three-jointed division of the 

 Homoptera includes three families, the CICADHXE, or Cicadas, 

 the CERCOPID^E, or Froth-hoppers, and the FULGORIDJS, or 'Lan- 

 tern-flies. The CICADID^E are the largest of the Order; one 



species measuring between six and 

 seven inches in the expanse of its 

 wings. They are nearly all inha- 

 bitants of tropical or the warmer 

 temperate regions ; only one small 

 species having been found in this 

 country. They have large transpa- 

 rent wings, but are not very active 

 in their habits; being generally found 

 upon trees or shrubs, whose juices 

 they suck. The female makes a 

 succession of slits in the small twigs 

 with her ovipositor, and deposits her 

 eggs in these; the young larvae 

 soon quit their birth-place, however, 

 and descend to the ground, where 

 they increase in size and become 

 pupae. It is a species of Cicada 

 inhabiting a kind of Ash, which, by puncturing it, causes it to 

 discharge the sweet, slightly purgative, substance, that is known 

 as Manna. Of the peculiar sound-producing powers of the 

 Cicadidse, an account has been elsewhere given ( ANIM. PHYSIOL. 

 679). The ancient Greeks used the Pupae and perfect insects 

 as articles of food. 



717. The FULGORIDJ2 bear a general resemblance to the 

 Cicadidas, but are generally destitute of organs for producing 



Fro. 412. CICADA. 



