152 Forty-fifth Report on iee IState MubEUM. 



Clastoptera obtusa (Say). 



The Oh' use Clastoptera. 



(Order Hemiptera: Subord. Homoptera: Fam, Cercopid^.) 



Say: Descr. New Hemip. Ins. in Exp. Eocky Mts., Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 



iv, 1825. p. 339; Compl. Writings, ii, 18S<), p. 2.")() (as Cercopis). 

 Fitch: in 4th Ann. Kept. [N. Y.] St. Cab. N. H., 1851, p. f>3 (? C achatina Germ.); 



in Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. for 1856, xvi, p. 406; 3d Kept. Ins. N. Y. (in 



3d-5th Repts.), 1859, p. 148, no. 193 (characterized). 

 Glover: in Rept. Commis. Agricul. for 1876. 1877, p. 31, f. 29 (brief notice). 

 Uhler: in Cassino's Stand. Nat. Hist., ii, 1884, p. 244 (its features). 

 Comstock: Introduc. Entomol,, 1888, p. 178 (from Uhler). 

 Provancher: Pet. Faun. Ent. Can. — Hemipt., 1889, p. 259 (description). 

 Lintner: 5th Hept. Ins. N. Y., 18^9, p. [100] 242 ; in 42d Rept. St. Mus., 1889, 



pp. 242-246 (general notice). 

 Packard: Bull. No. 7,U. S. Ent. Commi>^., 1881, p. 88 (quotes Fitch); 5th Rept. 



U. S. Ent. Comm., 1890, p. 342 (on butternut). 

 Van Duzee: in Canad. Entomol., xxi, 1889, p. 8 (on blueberry in Canada). 

 Osborn: in Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., i, lSit2, p. 127 (in Iowa). 

 Southwick: in Science, xix, 1892, p. 318 (mention). 



The Insect on Linden. 



Leaves of the linden tree, Tilia Americana, were received June 2 2d, 

 1891, from Mr. D. J. Garth, of Scarsdale, N. Y., having on their stems 

 large masses of the " cuckoo-spit," from which the small ivory-white 

 larvae which had produced it, had crept out and were actively traveling 

 over the leaves and the box in which they were inclosed. Mr. Garth 

 wrote : 



I have a large Linden growing on my lawn, which has on the stems 

 of the leaves where they join the branches, a substance that looks like 

 the white of an egg beaten to a froth, and small insects within it like 

 those that I send you for examination and report. I have never seen 

 this before, and as it appears to cover the entire tree, I fear that damage 

 may result from it. 



Its Habits and Injuries. 



Mr. Garth was informed that the examples sent were the larvae of one 

 of the tree-hoppers, or " spittle insects" as commonly known, which 

 feed on the juices of the trees that they infest, sometimes injuriously, 

 and that the froth-like substance in which they were hidden, was a pro- 

 tective excretion from them, thrown out after the manner, and for the 

 purpose stated in the Fifth Report Insects New York, 1889, in the 

 account of the "Alder Spittle-Insect," p. 242. As they were apparently 

 nearly full-gro\^n, and, probably, not excessively abundant, the injury 

 that they would inflict upon the tree through sucking its sap, would 

 not be sufliciently severe to render necessary a resort to means for their 

 destruction. 



