288 On Laaj), or Lerp, 



two minute ocelli, whose proximity and oblique position 

 render them incapable of separation by our microscopes. 



The wings are much longer than the body, and nearly 

 colourless. The elytra are longer than the wings, almost 

 of the same consistence, and deflexed. The abdomen is of 

 a rich emerald green, and is terminated by two pointed 

 projecting pieces, which play an important part in depositing 

 the eggs and constructing the roof. The feet are furnished 

 with two hooks, and a small membranous bladder. These 

 vesicular appendages, as well as the antennae, are continually 

 in motion. The insect seems to prefer locomotion by 

 running and leaping to that by flight. The male is some- 

 what smaller than the female, but presents no prominent 

 difference in other respects. The description given by Dr. 

 Anderson in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for 

 July, 1819, of the form and structure of the small white 

 cones, is sufficiently minute and accurate. The tuft of hairs 

 seen on most specimens consists of portions of the thick 

 central thread which have failed to retain their hold on the 

 surface of the leaf. If Dr. Anderson is correct in stating 

 that the saccharine taste of lerp is confined entirely to these 

 external hairs, there must exist a remarkable difference 

 between the usual excrementitious matter of which these 

 hairs are composed, and that secreted and expelled from 

 between the abdominal rings, &c. In insects which subsist 

 on vegetable juices, the salivary vessels are developed in an 

 extraordinary degree ; and whether the fine silky filaments 

 exude from the salivary glands, as in the caterpillar, or are 

 elaborated by a special secretory apparatus, it is quite 

 conceivable that their nature may be very different from 

 that of the excrementitious matter which has been subjected 

 to the action of the various organs composing the intestinal 

 canal. The ants are extremely fond of lerp ; and the 

 beautifully marked spider whose dwelling is a gum-leaf 



