SPITTLE BUG SPITTLE 153 



should not the spittle bug be one of these, feeding upon the victims 

 which it catches in its snare? In more than one instance, the writer 

 has found a spittle bug in the center of its lair, clinging tightly to 

 the body of some unfortunate insect. 



In a large mass of spittle, one will occasionally find several of 

 the insects living together in various stages of development. This, 

 however, is unusual and in the great majority of cases but a single 

 insect inhabits each mass. 



Several days after leaving the egg, the insect stops feeding and 

 remains motionless within its dwelling of bubbles for two or three 

 days. At this period the spittle commences to dry up, leaving a 

 cell about the spittle bug's body in which it undergoes the trans- 

 formation to a perfect insect. Its old skin splits apart and slowly 

 the mature creature pushes forth. She is a slender winged insect, 

 longer and more agile than the form from which she has just risen. 

 After brushing and drying herself she burrows through the dried 

 white mass and soon becomes the mother of a new generation. 



There are spittle bugs of many sizes, shapes, and hues, but this 

 brief life history will suffice for most of them. Where they differ 

 chiefly, is in the plant upon which they occur. Some blow their 

 houses among the grass, others upon the leaf stems of basswood, and 

 giant ones occur upon the needles of the long-leaved pines. 



Wherever one goes in summer, providing there be vegetation, 

 one finds these strange little creatures decorating the foliage with 

 their sticky shelters of foam. 



