78 



MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



Fig. 54. — The jiardou flea-lioppcr, 

 long-winged fonialo (X 10). 



pale, marked with l^lack. The sliort-winged form (Fi^. 55) is 

 somewhat smaller and more o\ate in outline. The front wings 



laek the mt^iibranous jDart, 

 do not extend to the tip of 

 the abdomen and are rounded 

 behind, thus resembling the 

 wing-covers of a beetle. The 

 male (Fig. 56) is similar to 

 the long-winged female but is 

 mueh narrower. 



The garden flea-hopper is 

 generally distributed through- 

 out the eastern United States 

 and Canada, and westward to 

 Kansas and Utah. It feeds 

 on a great ^•ariety of plants 

 including bean, ])ea, potato, 

 tomato, eggplant, pepper, beet, cabbage, pum])kin, cucumber, 

 squash, celery, lettuce, sweet potato, corn, clover, alfalfa, 

 sweet clover and cowpea. Among 

 its wild food plants may be mentioned 

 beggarweed, ragweed, pigweed, plan- 

 tain, smartweed, thistle, mare's tail, 

 burdock, wild lettuce, ^•ervain, stick- 

 tight, self-heal, mallow, aster, oxalis 

 and convolvulus. The garden flea- 

 hopper has also been recorded a^ a 

 ])est of chrysanthemums and smilax 

 in greenhouses. 



The life histm-y of the garden flea- 

 hopper is very imperfectly known. It 

 seems probable that hibernation takes 

 place in the egg stage on some of its perennial host plants, but 

 in the South it may pass the winter in other stages. In 



Fig. 55. — The garden flea- 

 hopper, short-winged fe- 

 male (X 14). 



