892 
Annual Report of New York 
BUFFALO TREK-HOPPER. ITS LARVA. SUCKS THE SAP OF PLANTS. 
the twigs of trees, closes into its sheath much like the blade of a 
pocket knife in its handle. It is plainly to he seen thus closed and 
lodged in a groove on the underside of the body at its hinder part. 
To perforate a hole, Esq. Howe informs me this piercer is held 
obliquely forward and downward, like a knife blade a quarter 
opened. Being in this position and its point pressing against the 
bark, it is by a forward movement of its body that the insect thrusts 
it downward through the bark and soft wood and into the pith. 
An egg is then passed through this implement down into the hole 
it has made, and it is thereupon withdrawn and placed in position 
for making another hole. The wounds which it thus makes are 
scarcely perceptible at first, but become more and more conspicu¬ 
ous with age. It was the last of September when Esq. Howe dis¬ 
covered the insect at this work, and some of the wounds in the 
twigs he judged from their appearance had been made a month 
earlier. 
The eggs remain in the pith of the stalks or twigs where they 
are deposited, through the winter and spring, hatching the fore 
part of June. They do not produce worms, but small active larvre 
which' resemble the parent insects in their shape. 
The lance, when I have first noticed them, about the 20th of 
June, were one-tenth of an inch long, 0.0(3 high and about 0.03 
wide. They are of a compressed triangular form, of a leaf-green 
color, and a soft fleshy texture, with two rows of long spines along 
the back, eleven in each row. These spines are soft and flexible, 
and bearded with fine bristles. Two arc placed upon the summit 
of each segment except the head and the tip. They project 
upward and curve outward, except the forward pair which are 
curved strongly forward over the head, and the hind pairs which 
are inclined backward. The head and legs and the lower edges of 
the body are bearded with fine bristles. The last segment is a 
cylindrical tube equalling in its length the three or four segments 
forward of it. This tube has a pair of small spines at its tip on 
the upper side and is bearded with fine bristles along its underside. 
These larvae station themselves upon the succident stalks of 
plants, at the axils of the leaves, where they so much resemble the 
young buds which start out at this point, that it is only on looking 
particularly that they are detected. They stand there motionless, 
with their beaks inserted into the stalk, sucking its juices, which 
constitute the nourishment of this insect both in its larva and its 
