40 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



they are caught with difficulty except by sweeping with a net, and 

 when on the wing they are easily mistaken for other insects 

 except by a person especially trained to recognize them. For 

 these reasons the leaf hoppers themselves though abounding 

 nearly everywhere are almost unknown to the ordinary observ- 

 er, though their cast skins are frequently found in the wake 

 of their injuries and are more familiar objects than the live m- 

 sects which discarded them. 



The principal economic importance rests on their attacks 

 upon such farm crops as oats, timothy, wheat and the various 

 other cereal and forage crops, on fruits of different kinds and 

 upon forest and shade trees, their occurrence in this connec- 

 tion being very general indeed. 



No comprehensive study of the Maine species of this group 

 having previously been made and the situation in regard to 

 them evidently needing the attention of a specialist, the Maine 

 Agricultural Experiment Station invited Prof. Herbert Osborn, 

 head of the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the 

 Ohio State University, to undertake this important work for 

 us. As Professor Osborn is the best American authority on 

 these insects and has studied them in various parts of the 

 United States as special agent of the Bureau of Entomology, it 

 need not be stated that he was prepared to give us the most 

 valuable information as a result of his summer's investigations 

 in this state. 



Reporting very briefly some of the results of the season's 

 work on the leaf hoppers of Maine it may be said that Pro- 

 fessor Osborn's collections show in general the species to be 

 found in the state and for many of them a considerable amount 

 of data as to distribution over the state and through the 

 season. 



At Highmoor Farm some of the species were found to be 

 doing very apparent damage on oats, one species was found 

 working on beans and two or three particularly on the potatoes. 

 The Cicadula 6-nofata was abundant on oats and grasses at 

 Orono, North Harpswell, Portland, Highmoor, Houlton, Fort 

 Fairfield and Fort Kent. Bmpoasca mali was found on apple 

 and was also plentiful on beans and potatoes at Highmoor and 

 Houlton. Several of the grass feeding species were abundant 

 in the meadows and pastures and a few notably numerous m 



