MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 235 



caught to date fairly on rod and line was caught within the last two years by Mr. 



Murray- Aynsley, ... if I remember rightly, 104 lbs.'' In the Society's 



room there are the remains of two large Mahseer captured in the Bowani river 



(S. India) by the late N. S. Symons weighing 7H and 65J lbs. respectively 



From the above it will be seen that there are no actual records of a 



Mahseer weighing over 104 lbs., which have been properly weighed. There 



is no value in the statement that Mahseer weighs up to 200 lbs., unless evidence 



can be produced of a fish of that size which has been actually weighed. 



Our Society will always be glad to hear of the size and weight of any large 



Mahseer or indeed any sporting fish caught by members or their friends. 



N. B. Kinnear, 



(Keeper of the Museum.) 

 Bombay Natural History Society, 



Bombay, April 1910. 



No. XXX.— ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



(Edited by H. Maxwell — Lefroy.) 



(a). — What is a Cuckoo-Spit? 



One commonly finds upon grass or herbaceous plants, a white mass of 

 frothy liquid which usually contains a flattened white insect. This froth 

 is the production of the insect itself, presumably a protection from enemies 

 and is formed only during the immature stages, the mature winged insect being 

 extremely active. The insect is one of the Aphrophorine division of the 

 Cercopidce, our common species belonging to the genera Poqphilus, Ptyelus 

 Clovia and Aphrophora. A good deal has been written about the formation of 

 the Cuckoo-spit, the latest being Guilbeau's paper (Amer. Naturalist, XLII, 

 p. 783) wherein the author reviews previous work and adds observations of his 

 own. The frothy mass of bubbles is composed of liquid and excretion which 

 on being extruded runs to the lower side of the abdomen where it is mixed by 

 the hind pair (or two pairs) of legs with a secretion derived from glands in 

 the skin of the 7th and 8th segments of the abdomen. This secretion is to 

 make the anal excretion gummy and the action of the legs is to mix it well. 

 This being done, the insect makes a bubble by protruding the end of the 

 abdomen beyond the liquid, opens up the pair of lateral appendages on the 

 abdominal segment and draws in air, making a bubble. By continually making 

 bubbles the insect keeps itself covered with the frothy mass. Like all of the 

 family, these insects feed on plant sap, absorbing the nutriment and excreting 

 large quantities of liquid. 



(6). — Idiocerus and its broods. 



Leafhoppers of the family Jassidce are not generally familiar, except in the 

 form of those which come abundantly to light and those which swarm on the 

 mango-trees in March, covering the leaves with sticky gum and blighting the 

 blossom. The latter are species of Idiocerus and usually breed in March when 

 the mango puts out green shoots, providing soft tissues for egg-laying and 

 abundant sap for food. During the rest of the year, the Idiocerus waits, 



