106 UP AND DOWN THE BROOKS. 



spittle of most of them was gone. Then I en- 

 deavored to give the creatures a new supply of 

 fluid by putting cuttings of plants into their 

 bottle. But honeysuckle and rose, chick-weed 

 and lily slips had not the right taste. No weed I 

 could find suited them, the kind on which I found 

 them not growing here, and one by one my Frog- 

 hoppers miserably perished, without having been 

 able to produce arty more froth. "The larva of 

 the ApJiropJiora cannot live long out of its frothy 

 envelope," says Figuier. My last one died five 

 days I believe after I picked the weeds the larvae 

 were on, but the dabs of froth lasted during the 

 first day or two, so that the larvaB were not dry 

 all of that time. 



However, on another day, beside that brook 

 I found a mass of foam on a blackberry shoot, 

 and, breaking it off, brought it home. The 

 Frog-hopper larva inside that mass proved to be 

 larger than any of those I had previously found. 

 He was dark, almost black, with a few light 

 marks. 



Calling to mind De Geer's experiment with a 

 similar larva which he compelled to make new 

 froth, I resolved to imitate him. I drew my 

 larva out of his bubbly world and tried to wipe 

 him dry. De Geer thought that the froth serves 

 to protect such creatures from the heat of the sun 

 and from attacks by spiders and other carnivorous 

 creatures. The froth serves, too, I think, as a 



