MEMBRA CIDJE. 
1 06 
The females are the most abundant, and are larger than the males, and they also 
have longer horns. 
The following list of species is here added : 
1. E. curvispina, St&l l.c. p. 38. 
2. E. ermanni, Griff. 
3. E. fairmairei. Type of genus. 
4. E. concinna, Fowl. Trans. Ent. Soc. (1894) p. 619. 
Sub-family : DARNIN/E. 
The biological student works at a disadvantage when he has only dry museum 
specimens to consult. The colours of Membracidse are much brighter in life than 
shown by the examples which are stored in cabinets; and even these last appear 
somewhat different if viewed with lenses under concentrated light. The colours then 
appear to be more vivid, and some allowance must be made between small forms when 
viewed by the naked eye and the pictures they give when drawn under amplification, 
and the somewhat deceptive effects of perspective seen from different planes. 
It is well known also that certain insect colours, vivid in life, are very evanescent; 
the bright and yellow greens of some Libellulse, the verdant tints of many Lepidop- 
tera, the brilliant hues of various caterpillars, all partaking more of the character ot 
stains than of pigment, cannot be preserved indefinitely. 
The foregoing remarks will explain why many dry examples of the foregoing 
Hoplophorinse and of the Darnime next to be described, which observers tell us are 
brilliant green or golden yellow when fresh captured, assume sombre tints before 
they come before the artist for representation. 
There must be some compromise allowed between the drawings which attempt to 
represent the objects in their living forms and those which are treated more symmetri¬ 
cally, or “ set ” as the collector might wish to see them. 
For dry scientific classification possibly the last representations may be more 
exact, but at the expense of the interest which insects in apparent motion will surely 
elicit. 
The zoologist works also under greater disadvantage than the physicist, inasmuch 
as he can rarely resort to exact experiments to substantiate his hypotheses in classi¬ 
fication. 
On viewing an extensive series of genera or even species of Membracidse, the 
inexperienced eye might doubt the correctness of certain liomologues, and may 
ask can these things be correct? In botany, adepts have good reasons for stating 
that the banyan tree, the mulberry, fig, the hop, and the nettle have close affinities, 
