MEMBRAClDiE. 
729 
it is likely that these little insects may be found to play an important 
part as pests of grasses and smal] cereals. 
Collecting .HAlmost no family will so well repay study from every 
point of view : much collecting and systematic work must be done 
before we can know our common species and the life-histories of all are 
worth careful study. Imagos require careful pinning and preservation, 
but no special methods of collecting are necessary except careful 
observation. Life-histories must be observed on the growing plant, but 
this has been successfully done in some cases. 
Membracid^. 
Tarsi three-jointed ; prothorax produced backwards into a process. Ocelli 
placed between the eyes , antennae in front of and between the eyes. 
These small insects are as a rule recognisable at once by the bizarre 
form assumed by the prothorax, which is developed into a distinct process 
posteriorly and often into two thorn¬ 
like processes laterally. The position 
of the antennae and ocelli must, 
however, be examined and the stu¬ 
dent will readily confuse our com¬ 
mon forms with Machcerota in the 
next family in which the scutellum 
is produced into a backwardly 
directed spine and the imago very 
closely resembles some Membracids in general appearance. Our 
common species are all small dull-brown insects, often with a peculiarly 
close resemblance to stiff thorns, their attitude on the plant aiding 
the resemblance. It is probably accurate to believe that they are pro¬ 
tected by the fact that when at rest on the twig of a plant they give 
the appearance of stiff thorns, often recurved and while the plants 
they feed on often have no thorns, yet these insects may have 
originated upon thorn-bearing plants and maintain the structures and 
resemblance which are still useful to them. 
Fig. 504— Leptobelus dama. 
The length rarely exceeds 10 m.m., usually being about 4 to 6 m.m. 
'(£ to J inch). The head is small, concealed by the greatly developed 
prothorax ; the latter is produced posteriorly into a long sharp process 
which may lie close to the wings, being concave above or be convex above 
