205 



]'"i(;. 214. Drwruldcepfinla mollipes: a, 

 young; b, half grown; c, aiiult. Kniarged as 

 in(iicate<i. (().s))orn.) 



Dr^culackphala mollii'ks Say. 



(Dicdrocc])h(ila mollipes.) 



This lar^c dull green species is one of the commonest of our large 

 leaf-hoppers. It feeds principally on sedges, grasses, and grains, includ- 

 ing corn, and especially in low grounrls, but is hardly abundant enough 

 to cause any appreciable injury 

 to the crop. Its corn-feeding 

 habits have been observed by 

 Garman in Kentucky.* Nymi)hs 

 and adults were found abundant 

 in July on corn in low ground, as 

 many as twent}' to a single plant 

 in some fields, when the corn w^as 

 about two feet high. Xear the 

 end of July a fungous disease 

 similar to that which is secMi on 

 house-flies on window-panes gn^atly reduce<l tlieii- inunbei's. In Illinois 

 we have found it quite common on corn in late June, in one case laying 

 its eggs in a corn leaf; also on sorghum leaves. 



The adults (Fig. 214, c) are from a (piai-ter to thi-ce eighths of an inch 

 long, the wings dark green, with bluish veins and yellow edges, the 

 thorax, scutellum, and front of head yellowish, the first with some fine 

 black lines irregularly |)lace(l. The nymphs (I'ig. 214, </, 6) are light 

 green or yellowish. The sj^ecies is discussed as a sugar-beet insect in 

 my Twenty-first Report (page 71). It ranges from Canada to Mexico 



and Cul)a. The eggs are laid mostly in 

 rank grasses and sedges, and in this stage 

 as a rule the winter is passed. There 

 are two Ijroods in a season, the adult 

 stage being reached in June and July 

 and again in fall. 



Phlepsius iHiiORATus Sav. 



A nymph of this gemis, and very prob- 

 ably of this species, was taken by Garman 

 on young corn at Normal, Illinois, in June. 

 The species is treated in my Twenty-first 

 Report (page 76). It attacks a great 

 variety of plants, and causes . on some 

 a dark purple spotting of the leaves. 

 There are i^robably two broods, and the 



KiG. 215. Phlep»i\is irroratus. 

 Enlarged as indicated. 



♦Second Rep. Ky. .Vgr. E.xper. Station, |). 12. 



