DR^CULACEPHALA MOLLIPES SAY. 57 
there, there being about half as many males and about the same 
number of young. This occurred at about the time the corn was 
about 2. feet in height (probably midsummer), as many as 20 
leafhoppers being observed on a single plant in some of the fields. 
The area affected was not large, and the insects were not often found 
on corn on high ground. He also mentions that the species was 
affected by an epidemic disease, due to an insect fungus, Empusa 
grylli. In this connection it may be mentioned that Prof. Webster 
has a record of the occurrence of this fungus on this same species 
many years ago, the fungus being identified by Prof. Roland Thaxter 
at Harvard University. The writer called attention to the abun- 
dance of this species and gave a brief description of its economic 
status in Bulletin No. 22 of the Division of Entomology, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, and in later years, 1891 and 1892, added 
some facts concerning its life history. In 1897 he published a brief 
summary of observations made by Mr. J. A. Rolfs on the method 
of egg deposition and the limits of broods. 
DISTRIBUTION AND FOOD PLANTS. 
This is one of the most widely distributed American species of leaf- 
hoppers, occurring throughout practically all of North America south 
of the strictly boreal portions of Canada. During the summers of 1909 
and 1910 it was collected at every locality visited and usually in consid- 
erable numbers. A detailed record of the localities will include a list 
of practically every town where any collection of jassids has been 
made. Its range in food plants is also considerable, although it has 
apparently a distinct preference for certain grasses growing in the 
moister ground. It has been taken upon wheat, oats, rye, and barley, 
and the list of grasses affected includes many species. Bluegrass 
is apparently a less favored food plant, although it is often found in 
bluegrass fields, especially where other grasses are present. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The adult insect is of a bright grass-green color, quite slender in 
form, and when resting upon a blade of gress is very inconspicuous ; 
in fact, can scarcely be seen unless it j umps or takes wing. The head is 
very sharply pointed, of a yellowish-green color, and is marked by 
several very delicate oblique lines. Beneath it is nearly black, the 
legs greenish, the wings a nearly transparent milky white; the length 
is about one-third of an inch for the female and about one-fourth of an 
inch for the male. 
LIFE HISTORY. 
It is rather curious, considering the great abundance and wide distri- 
bution of the species, that a full description of the nymphal stages has 
