Marvels of insect life ; a popular account of structure and habit . ent species. The lerp, or leaf-manna,of Australia is the exudation of one that feeds upon the eucalyptus, and takes theform of a covering scale, which is collected and used as food. One- of our fiftynative species is found on rushes, and may easily be overlooked as one of the seeds of the plant, which it resembles is brown in colour, and its identificationmay be helped also by the appearance oftwo long ears produced by the en-larged basal joints of the antennae. Thenthere is another family of jumpers,^ whichare some
Marvels of insect life ; a popular account of structure and habit . ent species. The lerp, or leaf-manna,of Australia is the exudation of one that feeds upon the eucalyptus, and takes theform of a covering scale, which is collected and used as food. One- of our fiftynative species is found on rushes, and may easily be overlooked as one of the seeds of the plant, which it resembles is brown in colour, and its identificationmay be helped also by the appearance oftwo long ears produced by the en-larged basal joints of the antennae. Thenthere is another family of jumpers,^ whichare something of a compromise betweenthe Psyllas and the frog-hoppers. Whenthe wings are folded they fit close to theback and sides, and they jump by carr3dngthe thighs of the hind pair of legs pressedforward, and suddenly extending themwhen occasion requires that the Insectshould depart. These hind-legs are fringedwith stiff spines like the leaping legs of thegrasshopper. The adjoining photograph isof a common species found abundantlyunder the leaves of elm and Photo by] \E. Step, Elm-Sucker. An exceedingly abundant Insect on elms and low shanks of the hind-legs bear a row of spines which assist injumping. The empty skin of the nymph will be seen a little tothe left. Magnified five times. The Humble-Bees Cuckoo. There are many strange parallels tobe found in different branches of naturalhistory. One of these is the similarity of ^ Psylla pjii. - Livia iuncoriim. Jassida;. The Humble-Bees Cuckoo. 105 the habits of the cuckoo among birds to those of the cuckoo-becs^ in their jclation?to the humble-bees. - The bird cuckoo is so unlike^ the smaH birds it victimizes,both in size and colour, that it is not infrequently mistaken for a hawk ; but thecuckoo-bee is so like its victim that only a student of bee-life could ttll whichwas which. But if one examines the hind-legs of the two the difference is at oncemanifest in the presence and absence of the pollen-ba
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecta, booksubjectinsects
