i 
tan flecks in the wood and inner bark at feeding points. Extensive 
feeding kills branches, stunts and deforms growing shoots, and 
may kill entire trees. Mortality usually begins 2 or 3 years after 
the first flags are seen (235). 
On red pine, eggs are laid under the outer scales of buds on the 
upper part of the tree. On jack pine, they are laid in the sheaths 
of current year’s needles or under the bark of dead twigs. The 
winter is spent in the egg stage and the eggs hatch in the spring 
just about the time red and jack pine buds begin to elongate. 
Young nymphs craw] to the ground and begin feeding at the base 
of alternate host stems, either singly or in small groups. As they 
feed they form masses of spittle (fig. 16.). To find these masses it 
is frequently necessary to brush the litter away from the base of 
the stem. The nymphs reach maturity in about 40 to 70 days, de- 
pending on the weather. Then they climb to the upper parts of 
their alternate hosts and transform to adults. The adults then fly 
to the pine hosts and begin feeding on needle bearing twigs. In 
the Lake States, adult transformation is about 80 percent com- 
plete by mid-July. 
F-489365 
FIGURE 16.—Spittle mass of 
the Saratoga _ spittlebug, 
Aphrophora  saratogensis, 
at base of sweet fern. 
Nymphal populations are often greatly reduced by late spring 
frosts in the Lake States. Hot, dry weather also kills many young 
nymphs, especially in open plantations. Insect parasites and pre- 
dators provide a certain amount of control, but are unable to 
prevent outbreaks. Recommended preventive control measures in- 
clude selection of sites for red or jack pine plantations that are 
comparatively free of hosts favored by the nymphs, dense plant- 
ing so as to secure early crown closure, and planting on good sites. 
Methods of direct control are discussed by Wilson and Millers 
(784) and Wilson and Kennedy (782). 
Prosapia bicincta (Say) occurs from Massachusetts to Florida 
and west to Kansas and Texas. Adults are dark brown and about 
9 mm. long. There usually are two distinct bands across the wings 
and a narrower orange band on the thorax between the humeral 
angles. Adults have been recorded feeding on holly, redbud, wild 
cherry, and a wide variety of other woody and herbaceous plants. 
Infested leaves of holly become distorted, stunted, and discolored 
and may have necrotic areas at feeding sites. 
Clastoptera undulata Uhler nymphs and adults have been ob- 
served feeding on the young twigs of Australian pine in Florida. 
In heavily infested areas, the adults may be attracted to lights in 
such large numbers they become a nuisance. The alder spittlebug, 
73 
