14 



CIRCULAR 2 41, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



indicate an advance toward the north since its first appearance in the 

 Southern States. Its original description from Cuba, 1854, precedes 

 any record here, and the early records refer to such southern localities 

 as Texas and South Carolina, a distribution still holding in 1894, 

 when Van Duzee's first catalogue was published. In 1900 the species 

 had not spread north of the Gulf States and South Carolina. That 

 it is restricted climatically is evidenced by the slow progress made 

 and by its northward distribution, which agrees very closely with 

 that of the cattle tick. 



FOOD PLANTS 



The food plants of the species have generally been given as wheat 

 or oats, but since these records usually come from cases of excessive 

 abundance during the fall, it is verv evident that they are based on 



Figure 1. — The yellow-headed leaf hopper (Draeculacephala reticulata) : a, 

 Adult, X 9 ; ~b, vertex ; c, front ; d, female genitalia ; e, male genitalia ; f, wing ; 

 g, supposed nymph from North Carolina 



migrations from adjacent fields. This has been clearly determined 

 by the finding of adults and nymphs in grass land adjacent to wheat 

 fields at Raleigh, N. C, and at Columbia and Clemson College, S. C. 

 At Raleigh it occurred in strips of bluegrass with other grasses; at 

 Columbia and Clemson College particularly in Bermuda grass; and 

 it was also found in Bermuda grass in fair abundance at Decatur, Ga. 

 In Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, and California it was found most con- 

 stantly in Bermuda grass, and this is accredited as being one of its 

 favorite hosts ; but the records are too meager to permit the assertion 

 that its range is coextensive with this plant. Although observa- 

 tions are wanting, it may be very safely assumed that the eggs are 

 deposited in some of these grasses of general distribution, that the 

 nymphs develop upon these during early summer months, and that 

 only after maturity do they spread from these to the wheat and oats. 



