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JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



\yoi. S 



NOTE ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF ENCHENOPA BINOTATA 

 SAY (MEMBRACID^) ON THE BUTTERNUT^ 



W. D. FUNKHOUSER 



Enchenopa binotata Say occurs in abundance in the vicinity of Ithaca, 

 N. Y., on the butternut, and its life history on this host differs in some 

 interesting respects from that which has usually been described for 

 this insect. 



The species is well known and widely distributed throughout eastern 

 United States and its unique form and interesting habits have been 

 productive of numerous references to its appearance. Dr. J. A. Lintner 

 in 1882 described in some detail its habits and particularly its peculiar 

 egg-mass in his First Report ^ and Matausch has given an excellent 

 account of its usual life history with a complete series of drawings 

 showing the froth-covered egg-masses, eggs, consecutive instars of the 

 nymphs and views of the adults in his paper in 1912 in the Journal of 

 the New York Society.^ 



The most characteristic feature of the life history of this species of 

 membracid as compared with other Membracidse is its peculiar habit 

 of covering its eggs with a frothy mass which has often been confused 

 with other insect deposits. The eggs are usually laid in two nearly par- 

 allel slits in the bark and the froth is placed over the slits in curious 

 corrugated layers. This has often been observed on bitter-sweet, locust, 

 grape and certain viburnums and on the hop-tree {Ptelea trifoliata L.) 

 on which the insect appears to be particularly abundant and which 

 Lintner states is its favorite host. The nymphs are gray-brown, some- 

 times tinged with greenish, and the adults light ferruginous brown with 

 characteristic yellow bands on the pronotum. The males are usually 

 darker than the females. These habits are to be noted commonly in 

 this locality when the insect chooses for its host the locust {Robinia 

 pseudacacia L.) or the bitter-sweet (Celastrus scandens L.) on both of 

 which plants it is very common. Locally, however, the species is much 

 more abundant on the butternut {Juglans cinerea L.) than on any other 

 host, and it is on this tree that it deviates from its usual habits. 



It was first reported as inhabitating the butternut by Fitch in 1851 ^ 

 but apparently its life history on this host has not been recorded. Here 



1 Contribution from the Entomological Laboratory of Cornell University. 



2 Lintner, J. A. First Annual Report on the Injurious and other Insects of the 

 State of New York. Albany, 1882, 281-288 p. 



3 Matausch, I. Observations on the Life History of Enchenopa binotata Say. 

 Jom^n. N. Y. Ent. Soc, March, 1912, Vol. XX: No. 1, p. 58-67, pis. V and VI. 



^ Fitch, Asa. Fourth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State 

 of New York on the State Cabinet of Natural History. 1851. 



