Chapter VII. 



CARPENTRY OF TREE-HOPPERS AND SAW-PLIES. 



The operations of an insect in boring into a leaf of 

 a bud to form a lodgment for its eggs appear very 

 simple. The tools, however, by which these effects 

 are performed are very complicated and curious. In 

 the case of gall-flies (Cynips), the operation itself is 

 not so remarkable as its subsequent chemical effects. 

 These effects are so different from any others that may 

 be classed under the head of Insect Architecture, that 

 we shall reserve them for the latter part of this 

 volume — although, with reference to the use of galls, 

 the protection of eggs and larvae, they ought to find 

 a place here. We shall, however, at present confine 

 ourselves to those which simply excavate a nest, with- 

 out producing a tumour. 



The first of these insects which we shall mention 

 is celebrated for its song, by the ancient Greek poets, 

 under the name of Ttrri$. The Romans called it 

 Cicada, which we sometimes, but erroneously, trans- 

 late " grasshopper ;" for the grasshoppers belong to 

 an entirely different order of insects. We shall, there- 

 fore, take the liberty of calling the Cicadas, Tree- 

 hoppers, to which the cuckoo-spit insect (Tettigonia 

 spumaria, Onv.) is allied ; but there is only one of 

 the true cicada? hitherto ascertained to be British, 

 namely, the Cicada haematodes (Linn.), which was 

 taken in the New Forest, Hampshire, by Mr. Daniel 

 Bydder. 



M. Reaumur was exceedingly anxious to study the 

 economy of those insects ; but they not being indi- 

 genous in the neighbourhood of Paris, he commis- 



