220 HEMIPTERA. 



same proportion, " a man of ordinary stature should, be able 

 at once to vault through the air to the distance of a quarter 

 of a mile." Some of these leaping harvest-flies have the 

 face nearly vertical, and the thorax very large, tapering to 

 a point behind, covering the whole of the upper side of the 

 body, and overtopping even the head, which is not visible 

 from above. These belong chiefly to the genus 3£embracis, 

 to which allusion has already been made ; and, as they are 

 found mostly on the limbs of trees and shrubs, they may 

 receive the name of tree-hoppers.* In others the face slopes 

 downwards towards the breast, the thorax is of moderate 

 size, and does not extend much, if at all, beyond the base 

 of the wing-covers, and does not conceal the head when 

 viewed from above. Some of the insects, with this small- 

 sized thorax, are familiarly called, in English works, cuckoo- 

 spit, and frog-hoppers, and to others may be applied the 

 name of leaf-hoppers, because they live mostly on the leaves 

 of plants. 



The thorax differs very much in shape in different kinds 

 of tree-hoppers (Membracidid^e), and the variations of this 

 part are productive of many odd forms among these insects, 

 and particularly in foreign species. Among the species in- 

 habitino; Massachusetts, there are some in which the thorax 

 forms a thin and high arched crest over the body, as in 

 Membracis camelus of Fabricius, and the vau of my Cata- 

 logue. 3 To these the name of Membracis, which means 

 sharp-edged, is most applicable. In other species (M. emar- 

 ginata and sinuata of Fabricius, and concava of Say 4 ) the 

 crest of the thorax is deeply notched on the top. In others 

 the whole of the thorax is not elevated longitudinally in the 

 middle, but only in some part; thus M. Ampelopsidis 5 has 

 an oblong square crest on the middle of the thorax ; M. bi- 



* Mr. Rennie, in the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," has misapplied this 

 name to the Cicadas, which do not leap. 



[ 3 Both belong to the genus Smilia, Amyot. — Uhler.] 



[ 4 M. emarginaia, sinuata, and concava belong to Entilia, Amyot. — Uhler.] 



[ 5 M. anipelopsidis belongs to Telamona, Fitch. — Uhler ] 



