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 wnich 

 the froth drains itself, and is presently relieved by the falling of the drop. The 

 scientific name of this insect is Aphrophora spumaria. Another species of Frog-hopper 

 (Aphrophora Goudotii), a native of Madagascar, pours out clear water without the pre- 

 liminary 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 HOPPER 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, tech- 

 nically called the "prothorax," is 

 modified. In some of these insects 

 it is shaped something like a helmet, 

 or rather like an exaggerated hel- 

 met plume, twice as large as the 

 insect to which it belongs, and 

 extending far beyond the extremity 

 of the body. Another species has 

 the prothorax moulded into a pair 

 of branches, under which the crea- 

 ture walks as if it were laboring 

 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 backwards, 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 color 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 TETTIGONLE are not uncommon in this country, where they are much admired 

 for the rich beauty of their coloring, 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 Psyllidae, 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 



ROSE APHIS. SCALE INSECT. 



Aphis Rosx. Coccus Westwoodll. 



SPOTTED HOPPER. Cercopls dorsivltiata. 

 BELL-BEARER. Bocydlum globulare. 

 FIVE-BANDED TETTIGONIA. Tettigoola quinqueslgnata. 



