WATER-LIZARDS AND THEIR ILK. 105 



under a bridge was quite transparent, and on 

 turning over stones, two of the creatures came in 

 sight. No more were to be found. Probably 

 these had taken a morning stroll among those 

 stones, and so were caught. Gentle creatures 

 they seemed to be, not much frightened even 

 when the dredger scooped them up singly as they 

 were found, and they came out of the water, the 

 drops falling from the yellow and gray of their 

 skins. 



Before leaving the brook, on vines or weeds be- 

 side it I found a number of the pupaB of Frog- 

 hoppers. Spots of white froth look- 

 ing like soap-suds were all that could 

 be seen, but penetrating a white mass 

 I found a little insect looking somewhat 

 like a small lady-bug, the forward part One of m y 



I&rvs6 of 



of the body being black and white, and Frog- hop - 

 the abdomen red. Orachat de Coucou 1 " en ~ 



the French peasants call such spots of 

 froth, and in England they are known as Cuckoo's 

 spittle, or Ecume Printaniere, spring froth. 

 That the cuckoo should be credited with such an 

 overflow of saliva is a mystery only equalled by 

 the fact that other credulous people assert the 

 toad to be the owner of the " spittle." 



The Frog-hopper Iarva3 that I took home were 

 of varying sizes, one being about an eighth of 

 an inch long, others a little larger. In my zeal 

 fpT Water-lizards I neglected these larvae, till the, 



