December, '17] scAMMELL: Cranberry vinehopper 553 



little injury to cranberry. That conclusion is fully supported by the 

 observations of the writer, although the species is sometimes present 

 in such large numbers on cranberry bogs as to warrant the growers in 

 thinking that the bugs are mainly responsible for the sickly condition 

 of their vines. 



In the past four 3'ears the insect has been taken in every cranberry 

 section of the state and, in every instance where it was found to be 

 abundant, the vines were in an unthrifty or dying condition due 

 primarily to other causes such as attacks of the cranberry rootworm 

 (Rhabdopterus picipes Oliv.), the cranberry girdler {Cramhus hortuellus 

 Hiib.), or the blackhead fireworm (Rhopobota vacciniana Pack.). Vines 

 weakened by conditions of drought were found to be susceptible to its 

 attacks also. In all cases where the bogs were in a vigorous, produc- 

 tive state, the species was a rarity. It is, then, not of prime economic 

 importance as a cranberry pest but essentially one of secondary 

 classification. 



Distribution and Food Plants 



It is generally well known to collectors in this country, having been 

 recorded from practically all sections, and among its previously re- 

 ported food plants are cranberry, wild balsam, golden-rod and other 

 weeds and herbage (3). The writer has bred the nymphs from egg 

 punctures made in the wood of the swamp blueberry {Vaccinium 

 corymbosum) and from cranberry. 



Life History and Habits 



One generation a year is produced, hibernation occurring in the 

 egg stage either on winter flooded bogs or those not flooded at any 

 time. 



Egg 



The egg (Plate 29, fig. A) is approximately pendant shape, one end 

 being broadly rounded, the other more tapering and terminating in a 

 white stalk or filament which branches halfway to its tip into two 

 forks. The surface of the egg is marked with minute, regular hexagons. 

 Color, pale straw. Size, length, without filament, .96 mm., width 

 .384 mm. Place of deposition : the eggs are laid in live cranberry wood 

 and, as frequently, in pieces of dead wood hang on the bog floor. 

 They are always found in a single row, varying in number from one or 

 a few to twenty or more in a single piece of wood. Each egg is inserted 

 separate from its fellows into the pith of the upright or runner (Plate 

 29, fig. A), the opening in the wood being made by the female with two 

 saw-Uke appendages of the ovipositor. The hole is closed vvith the 

 sawdust produced in this operation and the outward indications that 



