736 
RHYNCHOTA. 
Ledra mutica, Fabr., is a dry-grass-coloured insect, speckled with grey, 
found not uncommonly and which occasionally comes to light. It 
is a comparatively large insect, measuring two-thirds of an inch in 
length, with a flat spear-shaped head. The green foliaceous semi¬ 
transparent nymphs have been found on mango but sparsely. 
BytJioscopince .—The head is much deflexed, the vertex almost 
absent, the ocelli on the face. Tegmina membranaceous. 
Idiocerus clypealis, Leth., I. niveosparsus , Leth., and I. atkinsoni , 
Leth., were described from specimens attacking mango shoots in 
Saharanpore (I. M. N., I., 4). These small 
insects occur in great abundance in some 
seasons, and mango trees then contain vast 
numbers which fly out in a cloud when dis¬ 
turbed. They feed on the sap of the young 
growing shoots specially, and the develop¬ 
ing flowering shoot naturally attracts them. 
When really abundant, the amount of sap 
they extract is sufficient to prevent the 
shoot growing, and the whole crop is lost 
owing to the destruction of the flowers. 
They occur practically throughout India 
and are abundant only in some years and 
in the hot weather. Their eggs are laid in 
, Fig. 511 -Idioobrus iWgo- 
the soft shoots and the moults of the sparsus. 
nymphs are undergone on the leaves, the cast 
skin remaining behind on the leaf. It is now 
known what their seasons are ; in Behar 
there is one brood in the early hot weather 
(March—April) and the adults then live over 
on the tree until the next year. They have 
not been found to breed in the interval and 
regular observation has shown them to remain 
alive throughout the year as adults sitting 
on the bark or leaves. 
Tettigoniellince.— The ocelli on the vertex 
of the head, the face prominent and convex. 
Tetligoniella spectra , Disk, is the common rice 
Fig. 51 la—T ettigoni- 
ELLA SPECTRA. 
