44 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON APHROPHORA PARALLELA, 



SAY. 



BY A. ARSENE GIRAULT, BALTIMORE, MD. 



This Spittle insect of the Pine was abundant on two trees on the 

 campus at Blacksburg, Virginia, last summer, and an attempt was made 

 to observe its oviposition and to work out its complete h'fe-history. 



Owing to lack of time this was not successful, but the following notes 

 may be of some interest : 



The Protective Secretion. — The material under which the nymphs live 

 consists of a clear albuminous liquid, exuded by the insect, mixed 

 intimately with bubbles of air introduced by the nymph after secretion ; 

 it is tasteless, or slightly salty. 



The mass is situated on either side of the twig, immediately back of 

 the new growth as a rule. In So cases observed 76 were thus placed, the 

 remaining four were several inches below the new growth. Only a single 

 mass of secretion was usually found on a twig. As the insects increase 

 in size and grow older, they become somewhat erratic and settle almost 

 anywhere ; in the pupal stage they move in towards the trunk of the tree. 

 The number of nymphs in a mass varies, generally there is only one, but 

 as many as six or seven have been found. Those containing but a single 

 nymph are easily distinguished from those including several by their 

 relative size. A recently secreted mass is characterized by the imperfect 

 state of its emulsion, the bubbles being large and the fluid consequently 

 more or less clear ; in an old mass, the nymphs having been settled for 

 some time, the bubbles are minute and the fluid is opaque. 



Habits of the Nymph. — The nymphs move about at will, and where- 

 ever they settle cover themselves with the protective fluid, but as a rule 

 they seldom move unless disturbed. As an experiment a nymph was 

 removed from its position at 3.35 p.m. on May T3th, it crawled four inches 

 down the twig and then back, occupying twenty minutes ; then it 

 wandered about for nearly three-quarters of an hour, apparently sucking 

 at times ; at 4.33 i).m. it climbed up about one-third of the length of a 

 leaf and inserted its beak, the setfe only entering; at 4.45 secretion had 

 begun, and a shiny, colourless fluid was exuded from the anal opening 

 and distributed along the body by the legs, this also served to mix the 

 air with it. At 5 the insect had a cushion of ait -bubbles under it, and 

 five minutes later it moved on with part of the cushion towards the end of 

 the twig. For nearly half an hour it wandered about, sucking at intervals, 



