THE APHIDES. 



547 



gardeners, who dislike to find their hands or faces suddenly wetted with the frothy exudations 

 in which the creature lives enshrined. The larva fixes itself upon various plants, and 

 sucks their juices through its long beak, which it plunges into the soft substance. When 

 the accumulation of froth is very great, which usually happens in the heat of the day, 

 a drop of clear water begins to form at the lowest part, into which the froth drains itself, 

 and is presently relieved by the falling of the drop. The scientific name of this insect is 

 ApTirophora spumaria. Another species of Frog-hopper (Aphrophora Goudotii'], a native 

 of Madagascar, pours out clear water without the preliminary process of forming the 

 liquid into froth. In its perfect state it can leap to an extraordinary distance, the spring 

 being so smartly made as to cause a sharp tap on the object from which it leaps. As it- 

 alights it often tumbles over, and loses some little time in kicking about before it can 

 again get on its short legs. The species which is represented in the engraving belongs to 

 the same genus as the beautiful SCARLET HOPPEE of England, so frequently found on 

 ferns in the outskirts of woods. 



MANY insects of this family 

 are remarkable for the endless 

 diversity of shape into which 

 the first segment of the thorax, 

 technically called the "prothorax," 

 is modified. In some of these 

 insects it is shaped something 

 like a helmet, or rather like an 

 exaggerated helmet plume, twice 

 as large as the insect to which it 

 belong^, and extending far beyond 

 the extremity of the body. Another 

 species has the prothorax moulded 

 into a pair of branches, under which 

 the creature walks as if it were 

 labouring under some adventitious 

 load, The same portion of another 

 species is shaped something like 

 a mussel shell, and exactly covers 

 the whole of the insect, the sharp 

 keel being uppermost. 



None, however, are more strange 

 than that which is exhibited by 

 the BELL -BEARER, a Brazilian 



species. In this insect the prothorax is furnished with a strangely-constructed appendage 

 standing boldly on a footstalk, throwing out a single branch back wards, and a curved 

 cross-bar in front, on which are set four little globular nodules, the two centre being 

 placed on short footstalks. The object of these curious appendages is quite unknown. 

 The colour of the Bell-bearer is blackish upon the body, glossed with red on the abdomen, 

 and the wings are mottled with the same hue. The branched organ is black, and the 

 little globes are covered with fine hairs. 



The TETTIGONI^E are not uncommon in this country, where they are much admired for 

 the rich beauty of their colouring, and from their peculiar shape are often mistaken for 

 beetles. The larvae of these insects are mostly found among shrubs and on trees, and feed 

 like the frog-hoppers, by thrusting their beaks into the leaves and young bark. The 

 insect preserves a similarity of shape throughout its transformation ; only the larva is 

 entirely wingless, and the pupa presents these organs in a rudimentary state. 



Passing by the Psyllidse, another family of this order, we come to the Aphides, a family 

 comprising a great number of species. The whole history of these insects is remarkable 

 in the extreme, presenting many points which seem almost incredible, which destroy 



N N 2 



ROSE APHIS. Aphis Rosce. POALK 1MSEUT. Cuixua Westwoadii. 



SPOTTED HOPPER. Cercopis darsivittdta 

 BELL-BEARER. Bocydium globuldre. 

 FIVE-BANDED TETTIGONIA. Tettigdnia quinyuesigndta. 



