FaxUdptera 



Cicada flosfolia. 



HOMOPTERA. 



IN the next order are comprised some very grotesque insects, some of which have been 

 thought to belong to other orders, and a few not being known to be insects at all until 

 comparatively late years. They have rounded bodies,' not more than three joints in the 

 tarsi, and their wings are four in number, wholly membranous, the fore pair being 

 larger than the hinder, but not overlapping in repose. The mouth forms a kind of tube, 

 sometimes nearly as long as the body, and often sufficiently hard and stiff to pierce 

 the skin. 



In this curious order are placed the Aphides, those little green insects that swarm 

 upon roses and other plants, and are termed "blights" by gardeners, who employ that 

 term in a strangely wide sense ; the Cicada?, with their beautiful membranous wings, their 

 large heads, and their loud voices ; the tribe of Hoppers, of which the Cuckoo Spit insect, 

 known in its perfect state under the name of Frog-hopper, and the beautiful Scarlet 

 Hopper, are familiar British examples ; the wonderful Lantern-flies, also leapers, which 

 are found only in hot climates; the Wax Insects of China; and lastly, the Scale Insects, 

 or Coccidffi, from which the "lac," so important in commerce, is obtained. 



The Cicadas have three joints to their feet, these members affording useful character- 

 istics in settling the precise position of the various species. They are very large insects 

 sometimes measuring more than six inches between the tips of the expanded wings. 

 Their mouth or beak is three-jointed and very long, being tucked under the body when 

 not required. The females are furnished with a curious apparatus, by which they are 

 enabled to cut grooves in the branches of trees for the purpose of depositing their 

 eggs therein, and which is clearly analogous to the instrument possessed by the saw-flies. 

 On the under side of the body, and nearly at the extremity, are seen a pair of jointed 

 valves, which form the scabbard to the boring instrument. At first sight, the borer 

 appears like a spear-head deeply notched along both edges ; but on a closer examination 

 it is seen that this apparently single instrument is composed of three pieces, namely, two 

 saw-edgod blades, set back to back, and a central support in which they both slide. There 

 seems little doubt that these instruments work alternately like the saws of the tenthredo. 

 3. N N 



