LIFE HISTORIES OF LEAFHOPPERS OF MAINE. 69 



tacks upon oats the application of direct treatment would be 

 difficult. Any measure, by rotation or other method, that will 

 reduce the development in grasslands adjacent to oats fields will 

 of course assist in reducing the numbers attacking this crop. 



Since the adults appear on the oats while still small it would 

 be possible to run over the oat fields with a hopper dozer, but 

 this would probably need to be raised somewhat on runners in 

 order to give the best results. In autumn the plowing under of 

 stubble land in which volunteer oats may be started and sup- 

 porting the leafhoppers may be an assistance in reducing the 

 numbers. 



Timothy Crown Leafhopper. 

 Acocephalus albifrons (Linn.) 



This species was taken at various points in Maine during the 

 collections of the summer of 1913 but the abundance and eco- 

 nomic importance of the species were not appreciated on ac- 

 count of the peculiar habit of the species preventing' its collec- 

 tion in the ordinary methods so generally effective for the other 

 species of the group. 



During the present season it has been found in great num- 

 bers and so many features of interest developed in its' habits 

 that it has been studied as carefully as time and conditions 

 would permit. 



The most novel feature of its life perhaps consists in its al- 

 most subterranean habit, the nymphs, and the adults also In 

 very large part, living beneath the surface litter of the sod and 

 in many cases being found under the earth especially in cavi- 

 ties around the timothy crowns. This habit came to light in 

 connection with a careful digging over of the sod enclosed 

 under one of the cages placed for the determination of the hi- 

 bernating places of grass feeding species of leafhoppers. One 

 hundred and thirteen individuals, nymphs and adults of 

 both sexes, were counted under a single cage eighteen inches 

 square and examination of surrounding space in the same field 

 and other old meadows showed this abundance to be verv 

 general. 



Another feature of interest is the apparent restriction of the 

 species to timothy meadows and so far as all observations 

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