A BUBBLE-BLOWING INSECT. 23 



A BUBBLE-BLOWING INSECT. 



By Prof. E. S. MORSE. 



MANY years ago, while preparing an elementary book on zool- 

 ogy, I had occasion to make a drawing of the little insect 

 which is found on grass and other plants immersed in flecks of 

 froth. This substance is commonly known as frog spittle or cuckoo 

 spit, and, being found in the spring, is known in France as " spring 

 froth." 



"Works on entomology gave the general statement that this 

 insect emitted the frothy mass from its body. Curious to ascer- 

 tain what peculiar gas-secreting apparatus was contained within its 

 anatomy, I dissected a number of specimens, without finding a trace 

 of any structure that could produce from within the body a single 

 bubble of air. On the contrary, I found that the little insect 

 emitted a clear, somewhat viscid fluid, and by means of appendages 

 at the extreme tip of its tail secured a moiety of air by grasping it, 

 so to speak, and then instantly releasing it as a bubble in the fluid 

 it had secreted. At the time of this observation — twenty-five years 

 ago — I supposed that entomologists were familiar with this fact, 

 but, on the appearance of my little book, I received a letter from 

 the late Dr. Hermann Hagen, the distinguished entomologist, stat- 

 ing that he had ransacked his library and failed to find any refer- 

 ence of the nature of my statement. Doubtless the whole history 

 of this insect has since been published, but a somewhat superficial 

 survey of the literature has failed to reveal any reference to the 

 matter. In this connection it is interesting to observe how often 

 the more easily accessible facts of Nature escape the special student. 

 The history of science is replete with such instances. One can 

 hardly take up any subject connected with the life history of ani- 

 mals without finding lacunae which ought to have been filled long 

 ago. The facts in regard to the ossification of the hyoid bones 

 in man is a case in point. The persistence of these erroneous con- 

 cepts or half-truths comes about by the acceptance at the outset 

 of some fairly trustworthy account by an authority on the subject, 

 and ever after the statements are copied without a doubt being 

 expressed as to their accuracy. 



If we look over the literature of the subject under discussion, 

 we find that in nearly every case the statement in regard to the 

 spit-insect conveys the idea that the creature secretes the froth in 

 which it is immersed. Beginning with De Geer in the last cen- 

 tury, we quote as follows: " One may see coming out of the hinder 

 part of its body a little ball of liquid, which it causes to slip along, 



