SPITTLE-INSECTS OR FROG-HOPPERS. 119 
but they differ from them by the absence of prolongations of the 
prothorax, and from the Jassidz, a family to be described later, 
in the character of the spines on the hind tibiz. 
Best known are the spittle-insects. During the early part 
of the summer we frequently observe peculiar masses of white 
froth upon various shrubs and herbs (Fig. 113). Uneducated 
people are afraid of these unpleasant looking objects, but when 
pressed for an explanation, or reason for such fears, they are un- 
able to give any. The negroes in some of the Southern States 
claim that the smaller horse flies of the forest are produced from 
such accumulations of froth. If we investigate this froth we 
find in it a young insect, sometimes several. During hot days 
this continuous bath of froth must be quite gratifying to the 
insects inside, and is at the same time a good protection. It is 
produced by expelling from their beaks the juices drawn from 
the plants. 
“It is asserted that these insects undergo all their trans- 
formations within this mass, that when one is about to molt 
for the last time, a clear space is formed about its body; the 
superficial part of the foam dries, so as to form a vaulted roof 
to a closed chamber within which the change of skin is made. 
The adult insects wander about on herbage and trees.”” (Com- 
stock). 
é 
Aphrophora 4-notata Say. (The Four-spotted Spittle-insect). 
This flat insect, about three-tenths of an inch long, has brown 
wing-covers with a blackish spot at the tip, a second one at the 
middle of the outer margin and a third one at the base, with 
the spaces between the spots whitish. Numbers of these insects 
occur upon the branches of the grape-vines, where they can readily 
be destroyed by the hand, while still in the frothy covering as 
soft and wingless beings. The insect is illustrated in Fig. 114. 
A. signoreti Fitch, very similar in habits and appearance, is 
a little larger, and of a tawny-brown color clouded with dull 
white, and is thickly punctuated with black spots. The wing- 
covers have a small white spot on their inner margin near the 
tip, and a larger one opposite this on the outer margin; the 
wings are not spotted with black, as was the case with the species 
described above. 
