368 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



when it arrives in spring ejects tlie frothy spittle on 

 the leaves, and that the larvae found therein are 

 Cuckoos in embryo. This popular myth may be 

 traced in many parts of the Continent where our 

 "cuckoo spit " is the kukuks-specickel oithe Germans, 

 the Syf'iss guggerspeu, Danish giogespyt, Norwegian 

 trold-kiaringspye, and French crachat de coucou. 

 The names "frog spit" and " froghopper," as above 

 hinted, have been suggested by the remarkable 

 jumping power of the active larva. 



The folk-lore of the Cuckoo is almost inexhaus- 

 tible. Mr Hardy has compiled an interesting store 

 of information on this subject in his " Popular His- 

 tory of the Cuckoo," published in the second part 

 of the Folk-lore Record. The reader may also 

 be referred to Mannhardt's learned paper in the 

 Zeitschrift fur Deutsche Mythologie, vol. iii., pp. 

 209-298. 



