RHYNCHOTA. 



i95 



Cixius nervosus (enlarged). 



The European species of Fulgoridce are not remarkable for their size or the 

 brilliancy of their colours. Jssus coleoptratus is perhaps the largest British species, 

 and we figure Cixius nervosus, another widely dis- 

 tributed British and European species, together with S- 

 Pseudophana europcea, the sole representative in 

 Europe of its genus, and sometimes spoken of as the 

 European lantern-fly. 



The frog-hoppers (Cercopidce) are mostly small 

 insects with a short broad head and stiff opaque 

 elytra. They usually have two ocelli placed on the 

 vertex of the head between the compound eyes ; and 

 their antennae are inserted, not below the eyes as in 

 the Fulgoridce, but between and a little way in front of them. These insects can 

 give most vigorous leaps, and their hind-legs are generally thickened or other- 

 wise adapted for that purpose. They feed 

 on various plants, and in the summer the 

 frothy masses in which their larvae lie con- 

 cealed may be seen in numbers. It is from 

 this habit the larvae have of surrounding 

 themselves in a mass of froth, known as 

 cuckoo - spit, that the name Aplirophova 

 (froth-bearing) has been given to one of the 

 principal genera. A species of that genus is 

 shown in the illustration on p. 196, where 

 another form (Ledra aurita) — remarkable 

 for an ear - like lobe on each side of the 

 prothorax — is also figured. The family 

 Membracidce includes mostly exotic insects, which have in many cases an extra- 

 ordinary appearance, owing to the shape of the prothorax, or the curious way in 

 which it is armed with spines or knobs, or with both combined. In these insects 

 the head is somewhat vertical, and usually placed rather low down ; it carries very 

 short antennae inserted near the front margin ; and there are two ocelli between 

 the compound eyes. The family is best represented in Tropical America, very few 

 species being found in Europe, and two only in Britain. Centrotus cornutus, one 

 of the two latter, may be recognised by the form of its prothorax, which carries 

 on each side a horny spine, and is prolonged behind in another horny process, 

 reaching almost to the end of the body. 



The leaf -fleas (Psyllidce) — included with the next two families in that section 

 of the order to which the name Phytophthires has been given — are little 

 jumping insects, winged in both sexes, and using their wings not so much for 

 the purpose of flying as to assist in their leaps. They have moderately long 

 antennae, consisting of eight or ten joints, and are thus easily distinguished 

 from the Cercopidce. The head is provided with three ocelli, in addition to the 

 compound eyes; and the tarsi are two -jointed. Owing to their method of 

 locomotion, these insects are not liable to be mistaken for plant-lice, although, like 

 these insects, they infest the leaves and buds of plants. They prick the leaves to 



Pseudophana europcea. 



