540 INSECTS AT HO]ME. 



random. It could often be seen sitting on the fern-leaves, but 

 it is so active and wary tliat as soon as the intending captor 

 approaches, it jumps off the leaf, falls to the ground, and is lost. 

 Sometimes it flies to a little distance, but as a rule it does 

 not trouble itself to use its wings, but merely leaps to the 

 ground. 



Next come those insects which are popularly known as 

 Cuckoo-spits, because it used to be the general opinion that 

 they were formed either from the spittle of the cuckoo or that 

 of the frog, and in consequence they have also received the 

 name of Frog-hoppers. This very absurd notion is by no 

 means confined to this country, neither is it modern ; for in the 

 days of Aristotle the insects were said to be generated from the 

 spittle of the cuckoo, while the French popular name of 

 Crachat de Gienouilles shows that the notion of the frog-spit 

 prevails on the Continent as well as in England. 



One of these insects, scientifically termed Ptyelus blfasciatus, 

 is shown on Woodcut LXII. Fig. 1. 



This is a most accommodating creature as far as regards 

 colour, for it takes almost any hue or mixture of hues between 

 grey and black. Some specimens are almost wholly black, and 

 some are entirely grey. ISIany have the upper wings black, and 

 the thorax spotted v/ith yellow. Generally, however, the insect 

 is crossed with two bands of a ligliter hue than its ground 

 colour, whence the specific name of bifasciatus, or two-banded. 



The larva of this and allied insects has a very curious mode of 

 life. It fixes its residence on the young and tender twigs, and 

 drives its proboscis into the bark, whence it draws the sap 

 which constitutes its nutriment. Just as the larvaB of several 

 insects cover their bodies with the remains of their solid food, 

 so are the larvae of the Frog-hopper protected by the remains 

 of their liquid food. They eject a quantity of liquid, which is 

 formed into bubbles, and takes the form of a frothy substance, 

 in which the body of the larva is entirely concealed. As every 

 one kuows, bubbles have a proverbially short existence, and 

 these bubbles break in succession, allowing a drop of clear 

 transparent fluid to collect at the bottom of the froth-mass. 

 When this drop becomes too large to be upheld it falls to the 



