178 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



Cicadelle would be unintelligible on this side of the channel. 

 The name of the systematists (Aphrophora spumaria), 

 which, being interpreted, means foaming foam-bearer, does 

 not help us in the least. On thinking the difficulty over 

 frothing hopper seems to be a tolerable name, which will 

 at all events do quite well for the short chapter now in 

 hand. 



In May and June one sees almost everywhere in garden 

 and field little masses of white froth, about as big as nuts, 

 which cling to plants of many kinds. Searching the froth 

 with a camel-hair brush, or even a grass-stem, one soon 

 discovers that every mass of bubbles lodges a grub, some- 

 times more than one. The grubs are green, with yellow 

 eyes, and measure perhaps a quarter of an inch in length, 

 more or less according to age. 



The froth, when wiped off, is soon renewed, and if the 

 operation is carefully performed, so as not to injure the 

 grub or its food- plant, the secretion of a fresh mass of froth 

 can be studied without much difficulty. I was curious in 

 the first place to find out where the liquid came from, and 

 how it was mixed with air, so as to form a mass of bubbles, 

 all of the same size. The liquid might possibly be exuded 

 from the mouth ; it was most unlikely that the air issued 

 from the mouth, for no insect is known to breathe through 

 its mouth. On observing a larva freshly cleared from 

 froth, it was not hard to see how the thing is done. 

 The abdomen narrows behind, and the last joints are 

 capable of a telescopic movement. The larva raises and 

 extends what we may call its tail, and then withdraws it. 

 A pouch, with a two-lipped opening, is placed at the ex- 

 tremity of the tail ; this pouch opens whenever the tail is 

 raised, and closes when it sinks. Every time the action 

 is repeated, a fresh bubble is formed. Within the pouch 

 lies the end of the intestine, so that we can to some extent 

 understand what goes on, if we are at liberty to suppose 

 that a sticky fluid is continually passed out from the in- 

 testine, but of this I have been unable to get direct proof. 



