INJURING THE BRANCHES. 87 



its form, which has been compared to that of a 

 beechnut, may be obtained from a and b, Fig 12. 

 Its mouth consists of a sharp beak, which it inserts 

 into the bark and sucks the sap. The eggs are laid 

 in the upper part of the twigs of apple, pear, maple 

 and various other fruit and shade trees, mostly dur- 

 ing the late summer or early autumn months. They 

 hatch the following May into small, active, greenish 

 hoppers, somewhat like the adults in appearance, 

 which insert their tiny beaks in the tender bark and 

 suck out the sap. They become full-grown about 

 midsummer, and feed, in both the young and adult 

 states, on a great variety of plants. 



This insect is said to have certain parasitic ene- 

 mies that destroy its eggs. This is probably the 

 reason that it seldom becomes seriously injurious. 



Remedies. — It is always more difficult to prevent 

 the injuries of an insect that feeds upon a large var- 

 iety of plants, both wild and cultivated, than one 

 which is confined for food to the single crop injured. 

 As a rule it is also more difficult to fight those in- 

 sects which get their food by sucking, than those 

 which bite. The Buffalo Tree-hopper combines 

 both of these characteristics, so that from the nature 

 of the case we may expect it to be a difficult insect 

 to overcome. Probably the most sat isfact< >ry method 

 of destroying the pests will be to spray the trees just 

 after the eggs hatch, with kerosene emulsion, made 

 as directed in the Introduction. In those cases 

 where the trees are infested by bark-lice, as well as 



