disguise. Cicadas (Cicadadce) are among the largest and finest insects of 

 this group, and their disguising-coloration, in the case of some kinds at least, 

 is very elaborately wrought. The Common Dogday Cicada of eastern North 

 America is the species with which we are most familiar, and it will suffice 

 as an example of the family. The broad, plump body of this insect is 

 obliteratively shaded, being grayish and pinkish white beneath, with some 

 faint markings, and shading into deep blackish brown above — on the upper 

 sides of the head, abdomen, and thorax. This brown upper side, moreover, 

 bears a beautiful, bark-like picture-pattern, made by narrow bands of light 

 olive-green upon the darker ground color. On the abdomen these bands are 

 simple and transverse, on the thorax and head they are beautifully branched 

 and netted. Though the Dogday Cicada has not strictly regular perching- 

 habits, it is an eminently arboreal insect, and spends most of its time clinging 

 to the bark of tree trunks and branches, in which situations both its counter 

 shading and its mottled pattern often come fully into play. When, as is also 

 frequently the case, it sits upon and among small twigs, either in trees or 

 bushes, it is apt to have more varied backgrounds, and its rich but none too 

 specially adapted obliterative pattern matches these nearly or quite as well as 

 it does the single plane of near-bark surface. 



Some at least of the larger plant bugs — such as the stinking squash- 

 and fruit-bugs of eastern North America — are counter shaded. Anasa 

 tristis, for instance, the Common Squash-bug, is blackish above and yellow- 

 ish below. It lacks pronounced markings, although several of its kindred 

 have well-developed obliterative patterns, of various kinds. Probably, on 

 the other hand, some of them bear mimetic resemblances to parts of their 

 food plants. This is certainly the case among the Membracidce, or Tree 

 Hoppers. These little insects are for the most part sluggish and still, 

 clinging close to the branches and twigs of trees, whose bark they perforate 

 with their sharp piercers for the sake of drinking the sap, which is their sole 

 nourishment in the adult state. When disturbed, they leap from their perch 

 with surprising force, and fly to another resting-place. Dr. Harris ("Insects 



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