CUCKOO SPIT 



During the spring and early summer few persons, 

 and especially those who own gardens, can have 

 failed to notice on various plants a white frothy 

 substance commonly known as "cuckoo spit," and 

 many doubtless have speculated on its precise 

 nature and origin without arriving at any very 

 definite or accurate conclusion. That it is the 

 work of an insect, Aphrophora spumaria or bifasciata 

 is soon made clear by the detection of a small larva 

 in the midst of the frothy mass, but " what insect," 

 and "in what way is the substance produced," are 

 questions which with many persons perhaps remain 

 unsolved. 



It is curious that it should be so, seeing that the 

 true nature of the secretion was made known two 

 centuries ago (1705) by a French naturalist (Poupart) 

 in the Mimoires of the Academy of Paris ; but the 

 general ignorance on the subject seems to be due to 

 the want of definite information, or at least to the 

 very vague statements on the subject afforded by the 

 ordinary text-books. Many authors content them- 

 selves with stating that the so-called "cuckoo spit " 

 is the work of a small homopterous insect known as 

 Aphrophora spumaria, but they omit to state 

 whether it is caused by the perfect insect or by its 



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