Page:VCH Cornwall 1.djvu/294

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

A HISTORY OF CORNWALL but consists of species that have with certainty been identified in the Schools' collection, together with such additional ones as are recorded by the entomologists already mentioned. The best known member of the sub-order is the universally distributed Philaenus spumarius, one of the frog-hoppers that in the immature stages secretes and protects itself with a large mass of froth forming the familiar frog-spit, so much dreaded by Cornish children, and about which there are so many traditions of evil in the folklore of the county. The largest species in Cornwall is the quaint and rare Ledra crinita, the biggest of which, taken near Launceston, measured exactly three- quarters of an inch in length. Many of the species are in places extraordinarily abundant. The elm trees about Truro literally swarm at times with Typhocybidae, and in the last few days of June, 1902, immense clouds of Eupteryx auratus arose whenever the rank herbage on some unoccupied house-sites at Newquay was disturbed. The county list includes the curious Issus co/eoptratus, which in the nymph condition is fairly common on a hedgebank near Pencalenick, Truro ; the striking Tricophora vulnerata, in blood-red and black, from near Calstock; and the very local Liburnia lepida from Looe. Bythoscopus rufusculus is not uncommon on willows at Scilly, and in 1904 Pediopsis tibialis was plentiful on the brambles in a country lane near Penryn. The Lizard is evidently the only known British locality for Agalla similis. Platymetopius undatus has lately been taken on bracken in the Luxulian Valley, and the rare and local Deltocephalus striifrons on restharrow close to Falmouth. D. socialis occurred rather sparingly in 1905 near St. Clement's, Truro. Three specimens of Limotettix nigricornis were taken on two separate occasions about a week apart at Botus Fleming. Eupteryx melissae was taken by Dale on tree-mallow at Scilly, and in 1 903 by Price on the island of Roseveare. E. fillcum was found by Mrs. Clark in 1905 on the lady fern near Millook. Arytaena genistas was common for several weeks in 1 904 in a great bank of furze near Kea, Truro. Trioza gali't has been taken by Dale at Bude. T. crithmi was plentiful at Whitsand Bay east in 1905. CICADINA MEMBRACIDAE Centrotus, Fabr. cosnutus, L. TETTIGOMETRIDAE Tettigometra, Latr. impresso-punctata, Sign. Valley of the Lynher, rare ISSIDAE Issus, Fabr. coleoptratus, Geoff. Truro Cixius, Latr. pilosus, Ol. cunicularis, L. nervosus, L. brachycranus, Fieb. Penzance (Saunders) scotti, Edw. Penzance (Saun- ders) DELPHACIDAE Liburnia, Stal. lineola, Germ. Mount Edg- cumbe (Dale) fuscovittata, Stal. Launceston vittipennis, J. Sahl. lepida, Boh. Looe fieberi, Scott. The Lizard (Dale) pellucida, Fabr. striatella, Fall. Land's End (Dale) fairmairi, Ferris limbata, Fabr. mesomela, Boh. HOMOPTERA CICADINA (cant.) DELPHACIDAE (cant.) Stiroma, Fieb. pteridis, Boh. CERCOPIDAE Triecphora, Am. et Serv. vulnerata, Illig. Calstock Aphrophora, Germ. - alni, Fall. Philaenus, Stal. spumarius, L. campestris, Fall. lineatus, L. LEDRIDAS Ledra, Fabr. aurita, L. Launceston ; Lis- keard ; BisAop's Wood, Truro ULOPIDAE Ulopa, Fall. reticulata, Fabr. PAROPIIDAE Megophthalmus, Curt. scanicus, Fall. BYTHOSCOPIDAE Macropsis, Lewis lanio, L. Bythoscopus, Germ. alni, Schr. rufusculus, Fieb. Sci/fy flavicollis, L. 242 CICADINA (cent.) BYTHOSCOPIDAE ( one.) Pediopsis, Burm. scutellatus, Boh. tibialis, Scott. Fa/moufA virescens, Fab. Idiocerus, Lewis laminatus, Flor. lituratus, Fall. populi, L. albicans, Kbm. Agallia, Curt. sinuata, Muls. Lizard (Dale) puncticeps, Germ. venosa, Fall. TETTIGONIDAE Evacanthus, Lep. et Serv. interruptus, L. Tettigonia, Geoff. viridis, L. ACOCEPHALIDAE Strongylocephalus, Flor. agrestis, Fall. Acocephalus, Germ. nervosus, Schrk. bifasciatus, L. Falmouth albifrons, L. histrionicus, Fabr. Newquay flavostriatus, Don. Eupelix, Germ. cuspidata, Fabr. Platymetopius, Burm. proceps, Kb. Falmouth (Dale)