[103] Report of the State Entomologist. 245 



whitish, the waved band is extended exteriorly, and there is a pale 

 v-shaped figure on the end of the scutellum. It is a little larger than 

 Glastoptera Proteus, a very common species, living on cranberry and 

 blueberry bushes in swampy places throughout the Eastern United 

 States. 



It inhabits Canada, many parts of the eastern side of the United 

 States, and is distributed southwest into Texas, and Tamaulipas, 

 Mexico (Uhler). 



Say (loc. cit.) has given a more detailed description of the insect, 

 but the above should serve for its identification. 



Some of the Spittle Insects. 

 There are a number of species of the insect which produce and 

 live in this peculiar secretion, constituting the Hemipterous family of 

 Cercopidce, and occurring on various kinds of vegetation, as grasses, 

 several of the weeds, on the grapevine, on willows, pines, etc. One 

 of them, Ptyelus lineatus (Linn.), was briefly noticed and illustrated in 

 the Fourth Report of the Insects of New York. The species more com- 

 monly met with belong to the genera of Aphrophora (meaning in the 

 Greek, I bear froth), Lepyronia, and Ptyelus, meaning saliva. Of the 

 first-named genus, the frothy envelope of the larval Aphrophora parallela, 

 is often quite common on the white pine, and I have had drops from 

 it fall upon me with unpleasant frequency when sitting under the 

 branches, while pinning insect collections, in the month of June. 

 Aphrophora quadrinota Say, and A. Signoreti Fitch, occur on the grape- 

 vine, and A. quadrangularis Say, on grasses, weeds and blackberry 

 twigs. Philcenus spumaria {Cicada spumaria of Linnaeus), originally 

 described from Northern Europe, also occurs in New York and is 

 quite common in portions of New England. 



Popular Names for the Insects. 

 The more common name for these froth-bearing tree-hoppers in 

 the United States is " spittle-insects." In England the secretion is 

 known as "cuckoo-spittle." The peasants of France know it by the 

 same name, viz., crachat de coucou, and also by another, ecume printaniere, 

 meaning " spring-froth." Another name that we may sometimes hear 

 applied to it is " frog-spittle," having reference, probably, to its sup- 

 posed origin. The negroes in Maryland, according to Glover, have a 

 belief that the small forest-flies, so numerous in the woods, are pro- 

 duced from these frothy accumulations. In the final stage of these 

 insects, from their habit of seeking safety in leaping when alarmed 

 rather than in using the wings with which they are provided, they are 

 known in common parlance as " tree-hoppers " and " frog-hoppers." 



