FROGHOPPER BIJGJIT OV SUGAR-CANE. 



Toad-Bugs. Gah/iu/idce. 



Urich (1913 C. p. 25) noted that in captivity some Toad-bugs killed 

 froghopper nymphs which wen; given to tliem free from froth. In the 

 field it is very probable that their covering will protect the nymphs from 

 these predators as well as from the ants. 



FossoRiAL Wasps. 



A very close search has been made for species of mud wasps or 

 burrowing wasps that might store their nests with the froghopper 

 nymphs. They are known to do this in Europe with the nymphs of 

 another genus of froghoppers, but so far in Trinidad and Central America 

 none have been found. 



The Mermis Worm. 



This is a long narrow hair-like worm which is sometimes found coiled 

 up in the abdomen of the nymph froghopper, occasionally also in the 

 adult. Kershaw, who is the first to report it (191r') C. p. 8) says that two 

 may be present in the same insect. 



A single worm may reach three inches in length when uncoiled and 

 when lai'ge is distinct!}' visible through the skin of the abdomen of tlie 

 nymph which is usuallj' swollen. 



Nothing is known of its life history after it leaves the body of the 

 froghopper. It is not sufficiently common to exex-t any check and I 

 have only met with it on two occasions (1) Union Trace, near Mayaro,. 

 in the forest district in a nymph of T. imbescens 27th March, 1916 and 

 (2) in nymphs and adults of T. saccliarina at Craignisli Sugar Estate in 

 August 1918. Urich (1913 C. p. 26) records it also in nymphs of T. rubra.. 



Similar worms are known in many other insects including mantis, 

 beetles, grasshoppers and flies, occasionally in abundance as in one 

 recorded case where 60 per cent, of a swarm of grasshoppers in Mass., 

 U.S.A. were infested. 



According to N. A. Cobb they may remain in the ground after 

 emergence from the insect host for as long as two j-ears before becoming 

 adult. They are often parthenogenetic and the female may lay as many 

 as several million eggs. 



The Green Muscardine Fungus. 



This fungus grows readily on nymph froghoppers in captivity and 

 is occasionally found on them in the wild state. It is however of very 

 much greater importance as a parasite on the adult and will be discussed 

 more fully under that heading. 



ENEMIES OF THE ADULT FROGHOPPERS. 



Birds. 



Kershaw (1913 B.) mentions having found froghoppers in the stomach 

 of a Tick bird {Crotophaga ani) and Urich (1913 0. p. '24) lists in addition 

 the Scissors-tail Fly-catcher. 



As a result of a number of stomach examinations, I have found 

 seventeen birds which feed on froghoppers (Table lY) and there are still 

 a few which are suspected of eating them, but up to the present have 

 not been proved to do so. 



