32 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



No. 30, ing the head, thorax, and posterior extremity of a lighter and 

 brighter brown color ; the head is broad, and blunted in front, and 

 the iusect.itself is of an elongated form, 0.50 to 0.55 in length, 

 and when young is covered with a bluish powder, which, however, 

 in old insects appears to have been rubbed oil. These insects are 

 injurious to the grape-vine, as they are said to puncture the stems 

 of the bunches of grapes, thus causing them to wither and drop off. It 

 also sucks the sap from the branches and deposits its eggs in slits made 

 in the stems in single rows. In certain localities this insect is quite com- 

 mon, and may be taken by sweeping with insect-nets the weeds and 

 bushes in the immediate neighborhood of grape-vines or among weeds 

 and bushes. In the woods they probably frequent the wild grape-vines, 

 and are very common in Maryland on blackberry-bushes. 



Ccclidea (Jassus) suh-Mfasciata is a tree or leaf hopper, about 0.35 in 

 No. 31. length, having brownish transparent wings, with two (or 

 more?) broad brown stripes across the wing-covers. It is 

 very active and diflicult to capture, except in long sweep- 

 nets brushed through grass and weeds in meadows, but is 

 found on black alder and brambles. 

 Aulacizus {Tettirjonia) mollijies is a long and somewhat narrow leaf- 

 No. 32.hopper, with a very long triangular head. It is of a green color, 

 y and is about 0.35 in length. It is very active, and leaps, like the 

 rest of the genus Tettigonia, with great agility, it was taken 

 among weeds and brambles, in meadows, grass, and cypress. 

 The leaf-hoppers Tettigonia, Uryihroneura, djc, are small leaping 

 insects, very destructive to plants, and especially to the grape-vine, 

 whence they are commonly but erroneously called thrips, which is quite a 

 different insect, and will be found figured under the Orthoptera. These 

 insects swarm upon certain plants, and in all their states, as larva, pupa, 

 and imago or perfect insect, are very active and destructive, as they 

 pierce the outer skin of the leaf or bark. They suck the sap until the 

 foliage turns yellow or brown, gradually withering away and dying, 

 leaving the cast-off coats of botk larva and pupa adhering to the sur- 

 face of leaf, (generally on the under side,) resembling small white specks 

 of semi-transparent skin. 



Erytlironcura {Tettigonia) vitis, or the vine-hopper, is a pretty fair 

 specimen of all the leaf-hoppers ; we will, therefore, give a condensed 

 history of their habits and natural history. These insects are supposed 

 to pass the winter in the perfect state, hibernating among fallen leaves 

 and other rubbish. Some naturalists, however, deny this, and say that 

 the eggs for the spring brood are laid during the preceding autumn. 

 However this may be, the young larvae appear in June, from eggs laid by 

 the females which have survived the winter. The larva) differ from the 

 parent insects chiefly in not possessing wings, but they are able to leap 

 with great agility when disturbed, and are equally as destructive as the 

 perfect insect, as from the time they are hatched they suck the sap from 

 the leaf and injure the vitality of the plant. In general, they frequent 

 the under side of the leaves, and sometimes appear in such numbers as 

 to be a great annoyance to casual passers by, and so injure the vines as 

 to cause the foliage to turn yellow or brown, and finally to become dry, 

 stiff", and brittle, and fall off. These insects, as before stated, are gen- 

 erally, but erroneously, known to our farmers as thrips. They cast 

 their skins at least three times, leaving their old cast skins like white 

 specks on the leaf, and are very lively, hopping away like fleas when 

 disturbed. They attain maturity in June and July, Vresh broods ap- 

 pearing throughout summer and autumn until the end of the season. 



