disturbed L one spot, just though not outsprea ^ on some leaf, where its white, outstretched, when at rest. It ne\ei _

wings render it very conspicuous Moths but remains h to its body as do so many

its wings very fullest extent, on either side to their

them stretched

actually courting observation.

Tiieke are nearly thirty species of this genus known to inhabit England, the handsomest of which is certainly the Rose Plume (Pterophorus rhododactylus). This is really a very lovely insect. It is only partially plumed, the upper wings being without any divisions, and only the lower pair feathered. The whole of both wings is rosy pink, except the basal half of the upper wings, which are golden yellow, white, •and the darkest possible chestnut brown.

The plainest and simplest of all these Moths is probably the Stone Plume {Pterophorus pterodactylus), which is drawn on Plate XVII. Fig. 6. This insect is simply brown, and the darkest of all the species. The upper wings are without plumes. The habits of all the species are very similar.

Tub last of the Plume Moths, and indeed, the last Moth in our list of British Lepidoptera, is the beautiful little insect which is called various names, only one of which is in any way correct. In some places it is known by the name of the I'liousAND Plume, in others by that of the Twenty Plume, and in others the Many-Cleft Plume, sometimes abbreviated into Many Plume. This last name is the only one which is correct in any way, and, after all, its correctness is only owing to its vagueness, which is almost a literal translation of its scientific name, Alucita polydactyla, or the Many-fingered Moth. In real fact the Moth has twenty-four plumes, which radiate from the body, so that, when the insect is at rest, its outline is almost semicircular.

It is but a little insect, the largest specimen measuring barely half an inch across the outspread wings. In its habits , it is quite different to the Plume Moths. They are always to be found in the open air, whereas the Many-Plume Moth is almost invariably taken in outhouses or similar buildings. I have frequently found it on the windows of my own rooms, its peculiar shape immediately betraying it. It can easily be taken by the f plan called ‘ pill-boxing,’ i.e. putting an empty pill-box over the Moth, slipping a piece of card or paper under it, and then 1 putting on the lid of the box as the card is withdrawn. The t' box can then be put into the laurel bottle, or into a vessel in which a few drops of chloroform have been placed, and in a few I minutes a perfect specimen will be at the collector’s disposal. M

The colour of this little Moth is very pale brown, speckled witiv grey and dark brown, and taking an ochreous tint towards the base of the wings.

The larva of this Moth feeds on the buds of the honeysuckle, and is very common. About the end of July or the beginning of August the caterpillar is full-fed, and then spins for itself a cocoon, in which it undergoes its changes. This, I believe, is the only Plume Moth that makes a cocoon. In three or four weeks from the time of its change into the pupal state it is fully developed, and then makes its way to the nearest place of : concealment, in which it may remain dormant throughout the : winter. .■

In those places where the honeysuckle grows wild, and man j has no habitation within a reasonable distance, the Many- Plume Moth is obliged to put up with hollow tree-trunks and ^ similar localities. But barns, sheds, and outhouses generally ; are much more convenient places of refuge, and in them the i Many-Plume remains, never moving, unless disturbed, from the j spot in which it settled. It is quite curious to see the same | spot occupied for months together by the same insect. This; | little creature must have a wonderful power of resisting cold, ! for I have seen it flattened against the wall in an old shed the severest winter, and even though the temperathroughout ture must several times have been but little above zero, the nothing the worse for it, but came out in the INIoth seemed spring, the warmth having completely restored it to following

animation.

Homoptera.

mm2

Homoptera.

We have now arrived at a new order of insects, the Homoptera. This order includes a number of insects that are apparently dissimilar, but which can, on careful examination, be recognised as belonging to the same group. Our first business is to understand the name of Ilomoptera.

This name is formed from two Greek words, signifying Same-winged, and is given to the insect because both the upper and under pairs are of a similar character. Both pairs are membranous, the upper pair are longer than the lower, and they do not lap over each other in repose. The body is always convex, which partly accounts for the disposition of the wings, the antennae are usually short, and the feet have not more than three joints. The mouth is set rather back on the under surface of the head, and is furnished with a proboscis formed from the mandibles and maxilla, which are very slender and elongated, and enclosed in the labium, which is formed into a sort of canal. The pupa is active, and bears some resemblance to the perfect insect.

In this order are comprised several well-known insects, such as the ‘ cuckoo-spit,’ the aphis or green blight, and the scale insects, besides the comparatively rare Cicada. All these insects are very unlike each other, but they agree in the character of the wings, the form and position of the proboscis, and the mode of transformation.

It has already been mentioned that the Ilomoptera never have more than three joints in their feet. Mr. Westwood considers the number of joints in the tarsi as a matter of such importance that he bases his arrangement upon it, and divides the Homoptera into three groups, those which have three joints

in tlie tarsi, those which liave two joints, and those wliich only have one joint. We will begin with the first of these groups, _ tlie Trimera, as they are called. All these insects have very ^ ■■fhi small antennso, at the end of which is a slight bristle. Tlie ; females possess a complicated and beautiful ovipositor, with which they bore into the stems of the plants in which they deposit their eggs. The structure of these borers should he compared with that of the boring Hymenoptera, which have already been described. Three families are contained in this j group, only two of which find representatives in England.

Tub first of these families is called the CicadidiB, of which British species is known to exist. This insect is only a single too rare to have any popular name, and is called Cicada, coloured representation of this interesting insect anglica. A being shown in the act of flying. is given on the frontispiece, and appearance of this insect are so well given cai The colouring illustration that there is no need for further description in the of In all the Cicadidse the head is short, broad, on that head. three ocelli set in a triangle on the back and transverse, with til and two very large and prominent compound eyes. UK of the head, The beak is three-jointed. fti

This is a rare insect, but is occasionally found in^ various the kingdom, never, I believe, extending its journeys parts of The New Forest is one of the towards the northern counties. found. In ‘ The Entomolocalities where it is most frequently vol. i. page 171, is an account by logist’s Monthly Magazine,’ of the capture of a female Cicada in Surrey. < Mr. C. Ct. Barrett in the sunshine down a grassy side, and ah The insect was ‘ flying among some rushes and long grass pitched rather suddenly in a wide open space at a bend of the path, ^ which were growing to secure it. Its strong membranous wings where I managed sound similar to that produced by dragon-flies,: made a rustling made no other noise whatever. ^ but, being a female, it of course specimen a few days certain that I saw another I am pretty by the same spot (one of the afterwards, flying but its flight sheltered nooks in the neighbourhood), most that there was no chance of capturing it. SO rapid being beaten out of the

The males are usually taken by the common bracken fer , thorn, while tlie females haunt white

j( on the roots of which it is supposed that the larva feeds. The K peculiar sound of its wings has already been noticed, and an I allusion made to sounds produced in some other manner. In j most of the Cicada, the males are able to produce a very loud, shrill, and monotonous sound, which in some species is so loud if that it can be heard at the distance of a mile. This sound is produced by means of a remarkable internal apparatus, con- ! sisting of a pair of tightly stretched membranes or ‘ drums,’ which are acted upon by powerful muscles. This apparatus -is guarded from harm by two large plates formed from the sides I of the metasternum. If these plates be lifted up, the drums can be plainly seen below them, the space between the drums and the plates being so large as to form a cavity, which evidently serves as a sounding-board.

Whether our British species sings or not appears to be a still mooted question which could easily be settled. It is true that a male kept in captivity for two or three days made no sound, and on the strength of this very negative evidence, the English Cicada was set down as dumb. Now, I have at this moment a male of the Grreat Grreen Grrasshopper under a glass shade. He was perfectly silent for some time after he was placed in confinement, but is now so musical that he becomes almost a nuisance, his loud, shrill cry being plainly heard from the room below that in which I am sitting. His musical propensities are the more remarkable as he kicked off one of his hind legs while being transferred from a little tumbler to the large glass shade. Had this insect been as rare as the Cicada, and had it lived for some two days in captivity and then died, it might have been pronounced to be dumb with quite as good reason.

The females — fortunately for the ears of mankind — do not possess the shrilling apparatus, but they are provided with an instrument which is in its way quite as wonderful. This is the boring instrument or ovipositor. The principle of these borers is something like that of the corresponding instrument in the saw-fly ; but, instead of being composed of two flat saws, the borer of the Cicada is formed of a double spear-headed instrument, the edges of the spear-head being strongly toothed. With this instrument the female Cicada bores holes in the I material in which the future larva is to be produced, and lays

therein her eggs. The lai’va is shaped very much like the perfect insect, except that it has no wings, and tlie fore-legs are enormously developed, so as to fit them for digging. With these excavating limbs they sink deep burrows into the earth, some species of Cicada reaching a depth of three feet, and feeding on the roots of plants.

The pupa is almost exactly like the larva, except that the rudimentary wings appear in the form of four thick and pointed projections on the sides. When the time for the first transformation approaches, the pupa leaves the earth, crawls up some convenient plant, and. there undergoes much the same process as has been related of the dragon flies under similar circumstances. The pupal skin splits completely along the middle of the thorax and across the head, and through this T-shaped aperture the perfect Cicada makes its exit from th» pupal shell.

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