REPORT OF THE CRANBERRY SUBSTATION. 127 



conditions were mostly the same, but three of the beetles were found 

 crawling around on the vines above ground. On July 21 the beetles were 

 distinctly less abundant in the sand than before. These beetles are about 

 five-eighths of an inch long. The males have quite a coat of fox-red hair. 

 The females also have a hairy covering, but it is thinner and more olive- 

 colored, and the hairs are much shorter. Both sexes are usually sluggish 

 in their movements, but they sometimes were seen to fly well. Wlien 

 either the beetles, taken from the soil, or the grubs are placed on sand 

 they bury themselves at once. 



The work of this insect was noted as that of a species of Lachnosterna 

 in the report of the cranberry' investigations of 1911.^ 



The Spittle Insect {Clastoptera vittata Ball-). 



This insect abounds on occasional cranberry bogs every year, it often 

 being so prevalent that its spittle will wet one's shoes like a heavy dew. 

 It commonly infests dry bogs, and apparently also those that are winter- 

 flowed but not reflowed. It is said to winter in the egg stage. In this 

 stage it seems to endure the long flooding. The writer has not yet found 

 it abundant on a bog reflowed according to the usual practice. 



The season was very late in 1917, and the young nymphs were found 

 just starting their spittle on cranberrj^ vines on June 13. The spittle 

 masses were abundant and well-developed on several bogs on June 25. 

 They were plentiful from then until after mid-July, but had nearly dis- 

 appeared by the 20th of that month. The first grown insect obtained in 

 confinement emerged July 12. The adults of both sexes came out rapidly 

 fromthe 15th to the 19th. These insects are from about one-eighth to nearly 

 three-sixteenths of an inch long. They are glossy, the males being black and 

 the females black with yellow stripes. They jump lively when disturbed. 



In 1918 the season was much earlier than in 1917, and the small masses 

 of spittle were fii'st found May 28. Judging by the size of some of the 

 masses the insect must have begun hatching four or five days before this. 

 It was noted July 10, 1918, that nearly all the adults had emerged. 



Some cranberr}^ growers have long considered this species very harmful 

 when abundant. To determine this point the writer marked several hun- 

 dred infested uprights with blue, and as many uninfested ones with red, 

 yarn a little after mid-July, 1917. These uprights were examined Decem- 

 ber 7. The results, shown in Table 13, give striking proof that this is a 

 very injurious insect, and ought to be controlled wherever it becomes 

 abundant on a bog. 



A heavily infested area was sprayed July 5, 1917, with Black-Leaf 40, 

 1 part to 400 parts of water, resin fish-oil soap being added at the rate of 2 

 pounds to 50 gallons. The insects were then nearly full-grown and well en- 

 veloped in spittle. The writer examined the treated area July 6, and found 

 most of the insects had been killed and most of the spittle had dried up. 



' Twenty-fourth Ann. Kept., Mass. Agr. Expt. Sta., Part I, p. 22, 1912. 



2 Called C. proteus, Fitch, in the Ann. Rept. of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Assoc, 1917, 

 p. 8. 



