Frog-Hoppers and ^^ Rain-Trees/' 



69 



drop from their hinges and reveal the empty cocoon. A portion of the chrysahs 

 skin surrounding the " sardine-opener " remains attached to the head of the moth 

 until it takes its first fhght, as shown in one of our photographs, which was made 

 from material kindly supplied bv Dr. Chapman. 



Frog-Hoppers and " Rain-Trees." 



From time to time the sensational periodicals attempt to startle their readers 

 by reprinting stories that have done service for more than a hundred years concerning 

 the so-called rain-tree, which, growing in dry or desert places, waters the ground 

 all around by a constant supply of refreshing showers from the tips of its leaves. 

 It has been seriously suggested in past times to make the desert blossom by planting 

 a sufficient number of these trees. Like many 

 of such stories, this has grown out of the care- 

 less observation of a fact. This fact has been 

 put under the iournalistic microscope that 

 magnifies a thousand times, and the result is 

 a paragraph which is accepted by the public 

 without question. How it would surprise 

 them to learn that the story has grown out of 

 the doings of certain relations of the insigni- 

 ficant little frog-hopper and its cuckoo-spit 

 that they find in their own gardens. First 

 let us glance at this Insect ; we will refer again 

 to the rain-tree later. 



If we go into the garden and, finding one 

 of these accumulations of froth, blow the so- 

 called " spet " aside, we shall find in the middle 

 of it a quaint-looking little yellow Insect, with 

 broad head and big eyes. This is the imma- 

 ture condition of the lively Insect known as 

 the frog-hopper. 1 As in the case of many 

 Insects that annoy us in our gardens by 

 weakening or killing our carefully-tended 

 plants, we are so eager to get rid of the nuisance 

 by destroying it that we seldom pause to con- 

 sider its wonderful equipment for its work, or 

 even to note what kind of an Insect it is. 

 Owing to this fact, so common an Insect as this frog-hopper and its cuckoo-spit has 

 been much misunderstood. It is true that it is a destructive Insect, chiefiy obnoxious 

 to the gardener on account of the harm it does to his carnations and pinks, and 

 having no virtues that can be urged in mitigation of the extreme penalty of garden law. 



The frog-hoppers — for the species are numerous — belong to the same tribe - 



of Insects as the cicada, the green-fly, and the plant-bugs, whose mouth-parts are 



fashioned into a long, sharp beak, whicli is thrust into tender shoots and employed 



in sucking up the sap of the plants. The general idea of the frog-hopper is that it 



1 Philaenus spumarius. * Rhynchota. 



I'huto 



[£. sup, F.L.S. 

 Tin-opener." 



The 1)r.\gon-Moth with its 



.•\ dragon-moth that has just cniorged from the cocoon 

 with a portion of the chrysalis skin still attached to the 

 head. This portion includes the hard spine whose repeated 

 traversal of an oval course cuts through the hard cocoon 

 and allows the moth to escape. The photograph is four 

 times the actual size of the moth. 



