FULGORIDAE 



575 



longed so as to form a projection or grovjth that may be monstrous. 

 Prothorax neither armed nor unusually developed. 



This family is of large extent, and includes at present so great 

 a variety of forms that it is really almost impossible to frame a 

 definition that will apply to all. The unusual situation of the 

 ocelli and the peculiar second joint of the antennae must at 

 present be taken as the best diagnostic characters : occasionally a 

 third ocellus is present. Some of the Fulgoridae are amongst the 

 largest Insects, others are quite small. The family includes the 

 so-called Lantern-ilies, in which the front of the head forms a huge 

 misshapen proboscis that was formerly believed to be luminous. 



Fig. 282. — Ftdgora canddaria. x 1. China. 



Many of the species are of brilliant or beautiful coloration. A 

 great many — and of very different kinds — have the curious power 

 of excreting large quantities of a white, flocculent wax. This is 

 exhibited by our little British Insects of the genus Cixius, and in 

 some of the exotic forms is carried to an extent that becomes a 

 biological puzzle. The Tropical American genus Fhenax may be 

 cited as an example ; being about an inch long it flies about with 

 a large mass of this waxy substance twice as long as itself; 

 indeed, in the Mexican F. auricoma, the waxy processes are four 

 or five inches long. This wax forms a favourite food of certain 

 kinds of Lepidoptera, and two or three larvae of a maggot-like 

 nature may frequently be found concealed in the wax of the live 

 Fulgorids ; this has been recorded by Westwood as occurring 

 in India ; and Champion has observed it in the ISTew "World.^ 



1 P. ent. Soc. London, 1883, p. 20. 



