FAMILY MEMBRACID.C. 157 



(i AUGARA DISCOIDALIS. 



Color brown, ami traversed by two light bands ; the front band pointing forward, its edges 

 undulating, with a much darker space behind it, and crossing the back. The posterior 

 band crosses the back directly, and is also bordered behind by a darker belt : legs 

 brown. Length rather more than two-tenths of an inch. 

 It resembles the cinereum, but is more elevated at the centre of the back, and the dis- 

 tribution of the colors is rather different. 



Gargara pubescens. ( Plate xiii, fig. 3.) 



Color dark brown : sides marked by a light punctured band enclosing a half-oval black 



space, or very dark brown ; posteriorly it is traversed by a light band directly across 



it. Wings terminated by a dusky patch, before which there is a large patch of white. 



This species is rather depressed, and flat upon the top of its back. Length two-tenths 



of an inch. 



Gargara inermis. (Plate xiii, fig. 7.) 



Back rounded. Color yellow bordering upon green, punctured : punctures and color dis- 

 tributed very uniformly over the individual. 



Gargara pectoralis. ( Plate xiii, fig. 12.) 



Color greenish yellow, dotted with green : there is a patch of yellowish and greenish 



white above the eyes. The wings are traversed transversely by narrow belts of light 



green and white, when they are uncovered by the hemelytra : legs obscurely banded 



with brown. Length nearly two-tenths of an inch. 



Garcara nigricephala. 

 Elevated in front. Color very dark olive brown, banded transversely in front, directly 

 behind the eyes : sides banded transversely, which bands meet in the front band 

 behind the eyes ; head black ; legs yellowish. Length two-tenths of an inch. 



The general reader will be able, from the figures which are given of a few of the genera 

 and species belonging to this subdivision of the Homoptera (or HEMiPTERA),to distinguish 

 them from other insects. It is true they are small in number, or at least less numerous than 

 the plant-lice, aphida : still their forms and habits, as well as consistence, will always 

 serve as diagnostic marks. So far as their food is concerned, as well as their mode of 

 obtaining it, they resemble plant-lice : they wound the plant by puncturing it with their 

 beaks, and suck the juices. When they are few in number, they do but little mischief: on 

 the contrary, where they are numerous, the wounds they inflict, and the diversion of sap 

 they occasion, have quite an injurious effect upon the health and perfection of the plant. 

 Among the plants most liable to be injured by them, the vine probably suffers the most; 

 for it abounds in sap, and hence offers support to large colonies of these insects. 



