278 MEANING OF SHAPES AND COLOURS OF THE MEMBRA Cl DAE 
and in others straight. The shape and appearance probably promote concealment in 
trees and shrubs. Tropidocyta and Leioseyta (Plate VII.) are very similar to the 
above-named genera, but the pronotum is not foliaceous and is rounded or very 
obtusely pointed anteriorly. They are probably adapted to concealment among 
plants, resembling buds or the irregularities of rough bark. 
The irregular rounded species of the genus Tylopelta (Plate VII.) would also be 
well concealed on rough bark, while on the ground they would resemble seeds, the 
excrement of larvae, or small lumps of earth. Some of the elongated and generally 
curved forms of Philya and Scaltnophorus (Plate VIII.) suggest small bits of stick, of 
which the projecting end appears to be broken off, while the species in which the 
pronotal horn is pointed anteriorly perhaps represent thorns. The greatly varied 
shapes presented by the genus Ilypsoprora (Plates VIII. and IX.) suggest protective 
resemblance to vegetable growths of various kinds—buds, roughened bark, irregular 
or winged seeds. 
The next genus, Bolbonota (Plates IX. and X.), contains small, dark, roundish 
insects closely resembling seeds, also small lumps of earth, &c. They would be well 
concealed upon rough bark. The pronotum, which is the only part seen when the 
insect is looked at from above, is rounded and broad and its surface deeply sculptured. 
In the position of rest the legs are folded close to the body, and thus help in the 
disguise. Canon Fowler remarks in the Biologia: “No insect could look more 
unlike the foliaceous species of Membracis, and yet, so gradual and so complete is the 
transition through intermediate species, that the older authors included them under 
the same genus.” Bolbonotodes (Plate X., Fig. 9) includes an allied insect, which is 
also seed-like in appearance. 
Pterygia , with its remarkable winged processes and strongly roughened surfaces 
(Plates XI.—XIII.), appears to be undoubtedly cryptic, resembling some of the forms of 
the vegetable environment. What these exact forms are must be determined by 
naturalists upon the spot, but lichen, winged seeds, and the irregularities of extremely 
rough bark may be suggested. Almost the same words may be used of the astonishing 
forms presented by the remarkable genus Sphongophorus (Plates XIII.-XV.), some of 
which seem clearly to suggest lichen, and others the excrement of birds or other 
animals, as is indicated by Mr. Buckton (see description of Fig. 4 on Plate XIV). A 
possible resemblance to galls should also be taken into account. The remarkable 
inflated part of the pronotum of Sphongophorus iuflat us, figured by Canon Fowler on 
Plate III., Fig. 5, of his monograph in the Biologia, bears a peculiar sculpture which 
may be gall-like. The species are, as Canon Fowler writes in the Biologia, “ among 
the most extraordinary of the Membracidce, and, in fact, there are few insects which 
assume more curious forms.” 
