82 FROGHOPPER BLIGHT OF SUGAR-CANE. 



The eggs of this bug are erect, almost cylindrical, flattened at the sides, 

 very slightly narrowed towards the upper end and then expanded at the 

 cap'. Tliey are about i-2niin. in height by 0'44ium. in width. Colour 

 dark red brown with a nan-ow %\hite rim at the margin of the cap. The 

 upper end (the cap) is covered with a pale brown mealy secretion which 

 is produced to a shght j^oint in the middle. The eggs are joined together 

 and to the substratum by a colourless guaj. The exposed sides of the 

 egg are miniitely punctate. They are laid in two closely approximated 

 rows, the eggs in one row alternating with those in the other. 



They are laid on grass stems and twigs and hatch in about 

 sixteen days. 



Some experiments were made on the efi'ect of cold on the eggs with 

 a view to the possibility of sending them to Trinidad in cold storage. 

 Eggs laid between 14th and 24th Maj- were put into a domestic ice 

 chest on the latter date and kept there till 4th June (11 days). They 

 were then removed to nornjal temperatuie and hatched on 16th June. 

 They thus took about 26 days to hatch, of which 11 days were in 

 cold storage. 



The adults eat many othet*' insects besides froghoppers and are also 

 to certain extent cannibal. They are capable of giving a severe prick 

 with their proboscis and one that pierced my finger produced intense 

 pain, worse but less lasting than a wasp sting, and the mark of the 

 injury persisted for over ten days. 



Zelus rubidus was a larger bronze and yellow Reduviid not uncom- 

 mon in the Bocas-del-Toro district of Panama, and several times seen to 

 feed on Tomaspis sp. 



Spiders. 



A certain number of froghoppers are caught in the bush in the webs 

 of the orb-weaving spiders but these are not common in the cane field. 

 The most important group of spider enemies are the Atiidw or jumping 

 spiders which are much more abundant among the canes and ace 

 frequently seen with adult fi-oghoppers in their jaws. 



The only specimen so far identified was a Scopocira sp. from 

 Panama. 



The spiders are in their turn destroyed by ants and fossorial wasps, 

 and are also killed in large niimbers when a field is burnt. 



Pi ED Mites (Acari.) 



Froghoppers and other insects (grasshoppers, u)Osquitoes. flies, etc.) 

 are frequently found with small I'ed mites attached to their bodies, 

 wings and legs. One or two up to as many as seven or eight may be 

 attached to a single insect. 



In Trinidad they appear to be most common towards the end of the 

 wet season and I have found them also on other species of froghoppers 

 in British Guiana and Panama. 



Nothing is known of their history, and it is doubtful if they have 

 a,n\ serious effect on their host. 



Urich (1913 0. p. 2B) gives their name as BhijncJtolop}tit.i sp. 



The Gkeen ^Iuscardine Fungus. 

 {Metarrhizhim Anisoplite, Sorokin.) 

 This fungus which is one of the most important natural enemies of 

 the froghopper was noticed by Hart in 1889 at the time of his first 

 discovery of the insect. It was mentioned again in 1906 by Urich and 

 Collens in connection with the outbreaks in that year, and has since 

 continued each year to be more or less effective as a check on the frog- 

 hoppers, particularly on the later broods. 



