20 
MEMBRA 01DTE. 
specimen of one of the Membracidae shows the presence of ventral valvular scales 
below the abdomen, it is of the female sex. 
The Let/s .—As in other insects, we have the three principal divisions of femur, 
tibia, and tarsus ; the femur being separated from the thorax by the coxa and the 
trochanter. 
Starting from the body of the insect, the first coxae are joined to the prothorax 
(prosternum); the second to the mesothorax; and the third pair of coxae to the meta¬ 
thorax. The first pair of legs is attached so near to the head that the knees of the 
femora sometimes project before it, and might suggest that the legs were prehensile in 
function. 
The first coxae are sometimes long and rather broad, as may be seen in Membracis 
mexicana, &c. 
The femora are stout and not remarkable as to form, except in the curious 
genus Xerophyllum, when we see them expanded into notched and foliated plates, 
under which the tibiae are doubled back and concealed, whilst the insects are squatting 
and at rest. 
The tibiae are articulated to the femora by a more or less conspicuous joint. 
These tibiae take various forms and they are then characteristic of genera. In 
Membracis the first and second pairs are laterally and broadly flattened into a spatulate 
or foliated shape. These plates are developed on the front surfaces of the tibiae, 
they are carinated at their margins, and their surfaces are often pilose, like the 
pollen-collecting baskets of the hind legs of the honey-bee. 
It is to be remarked that these spatulate tibiae are seen in a modified form in some 
of the Centrotidae. Such a fact seems to reduce the value of spatulate tibiae when used 
for generic purposes. 
In some species the extremities have small crowns of sharp spurs developed 
at the insertions of the tarsal joints. The hind tibiae are usually the longest; 
sometimes they are finely serrated on one edge, doubtless to assist the insect in 
its leaping flights. Sometimes prismatic in form, they have their sides channelled or 
excavated. 
Examples of foliated tibiae may be seen in other insects besides the Membracidae. 
A remarkable instance may be given in the South American genus Diacton (Coreidae) 
and another in the Australian heteropterous insect PHlocnemns sidnicus. 
The Tarsi .—The character dependent on the number of these small joints of the 
feet of insects may seem to be trivial, but they exemplify the fact, already noted as to 
wing neuration, that comparatively unimportant organs undergo little change from 
their surroundings, and they may thus furnish good, steady points for classificatory 
purposes. 
