THE CICADA. 127 



bugs have two of them only. The legs deserve great 

 attention ; with very few exceptions, the hinder pair 

 are remarkably longer than the others, and are formed 

 for leaping and for defence. The common froghopper, 

 called by some the cuckoo spit (which in its grub state 

 lives in a drop of froth upon plants), is a small but fa- 

 miliar example of this order, and easily procured in 

 summer. The hind legs, it will be perceived, are not 

 only very long, but armed with sharp spines, much in 

 the same manner as those of the grasshoppers. Every 

 body knows what prodigious leaps are taken by these 

 little insects, when disturbed ; and if one is captured, 

 and held between the fingers, the struggles it makes to 

 get free will show the effect which the sj^ines would 

 have on any other occasion. We have said that the 

 upper or superior wings are either clear, or opake and 

 coloured ; this colouring, however, is not farinaceous, 

 except in one family (^Flatidce), where the wings seem 

 covered with a white powder. It is by this, or similar 

 insects, that an easy passage is formed to the Lepi- 

 doptera, and the two orders brought into immediate 

 conjunction. 



(11 9-) The natural habits and economy of the Ci- 

 cadcB are very different from those of the Citnicides. 

 The majority of the latter are predacious insects, living 

 upon the juices of others, which they seize by surprise 

 when hunting among foliage ; and having wounded 

 their prey by their proboscis, suck the blood. The 

 Cicades, on the other hand, mostly live upon the juices 

 of plants, which they pierce in the same way ; such, at 

 least, is the case with nearly all those found in Great 

 Britain : but there are very many (more especially those 

 which may be considered typical), which have the fore 

 legs raptorial ; that is, formed for seizing, similar to the 

 MantidcP, and other families which are known to live 

 upon smaller insects : in all such groups, these legs are 

 very thick and robust, and are armed with sharp spines, 

 which serve to secure and even to kill their prey. The 

 common Italian cicada shows a full developement of 



