INSECT ACROBATS 249 



people. An examination of this instrument will 

 reveal what a wonderful apparatus it is. This 

 stridulating file is present under each fore wing, 

 and the sibilous music is produced — in a similar 

 way to the Grasshoppers — by the insect scraping 

 the rows of pegs (of which the file will be seen to 

 be made up) on the inner edge of the hind thighs 

 over the acute edge of the nervures of the fore 

 wings. 



It is a lesson in the wing structure of insects 

 to closely observe even a common House Cricket 

 fold up its wings. It will be seen, when the 

 insect is thus examined, that the anal area lies 

 flat over the body, whilst the remaining portion 

 of the wing, when at rest, is turned downwards at 

 the side of the creature in a most wonderful and 

 ingenious manner. A mere written description 

 cannot convey any idea to the reader of this wing 

 structure in such a common insect inhabitant of 

 our country, and personal observation alone can 

 convince the uninitiated of the truthfulness of 

 my remarks. 



The Frog Hopper is at all times a curious little 

 creature, when seen either embedded as a soft 

 greenish insect in the frothy substance that it 

 exudes — apparently for protective purposes — or 

 when it has fully developed as a hard, brownish- 

 grey creature springing adroitly, when touched, 

 a distance of several feet. It seems extraordinary 



