288 FIRST AJSTNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



projection of the tliorax seen in the adult, and they appear to 

 lack, in this stage, the ability to hop which they display later, and 

 from which they derive their common name of "tree-hoppers." 



The time of oviposition is not known. It is probably not prior to 

 the middle of August in the State of New York, for upon the 8th 

 of that month, I have observed the mature insect abundantly upon 

 locust,* when none of the egg-coverings were discoverable. It may 

 be presumed to occur during the latter half of August, for Miss Good- 

 rich, in reply to special inquiries made, has informed me that the 

 coverings with the eggs in the wood beneath them were first observed 

 by her in the early part of September, upon her return to her home 

 after an absence of most of the summer. From their fresh appear- 

 ance at this time, it was quite jirobable that they had been quite recently 

 placed. Her attention was drawn to them by '' the extreme beauty of 

 the web-like shields of purest white threads. Later [in October], the 

 thread-like appearance was lost, as if by a running together of the 

 threads." 



Remedies and Preventives. 



It is difficult to save from destruction a vine which has become so 

 badly infested by this insect as the one from which the specimens were 

 sent to me. Whenever it is evident from the numerous egg-coverings 

 that large numbers of th,e eggs have been deposited, the portions most 

 badly infested should be cut away and burned, during the autumn. 

 The larva? which emerge from the portion of the vine remaining, in the 

 spring, may probably be destroyed by showering them with hot water, 

 if care be taken to apply the water upon the sides of the vine where 

 the insects are resting. If one prefers to incur the risk of an increase 

 of the depredators, rather than sacrifice a large portion of the vine, the 

 experiment might be tried as soon as convenient after the dis- 

 covery of the coverings, of removing them by means of a stiff bristle- 

 brush or otherwise. If, as there is reason to believe, the coverings are 

 essential to the preservation and development of the eggs (perhaps ex- 

 ceptionally tender) then their removal, by the consequent exposure 

 would result in the destruction of the eggs. 



The insects, when they have matured and acquired wings, may be 

 driven away before their oviposition, to other food-plants where they 

 will prove less obnoxious, by frequently shaking the vine and not per- 

 mitting them to become domesticated. They are timid creatures and 

 easily frightened from their haunts. 



^These individuals have been pronounced by Professor Uhler as a form of E. biuotuta, 

 although differing in several particulars from examples taken upon the Celastrus, as in 

 their smaller size, the larger yellow spots upon the ridge of the thorax, the anterior tip of 

 the thorax but slightly enlarged and expanded laterally (not suggesting the head of a bird), 

 and less curved downward toward the head. 



