Nature Bulletin No. 348-A   June 7, 1969
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George w. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE FROGHOPPER OR SPITTLEBUG

With the coming of summer, mysterious blobs of snow-white froth 
begin to appear on weeds, grasses, garden crops and other vegetation. 
Later, hundreds of these foam blossoms dot the meadows and hillsides. 
Each resembles a dab of soap suds or beaten egg white and feel 
slippery between one's fingers. ' Examined closely, a small flat 
greenish seed-like creature, with six slender legs and a broad head 
having a pointed beak beneath, is found inside. Named Froghopper 
because of his squatty froggy appearance, he is also called the 
Spittlebug because his home looks like a fleck of saliva. In folklore 
these little masses of froth are described as "frog spit", "snake spit", 
"cuckoo spit", or the birthplace of horseflies.

The froghoppers, of which there are about 25 species in the United 
States, belong to a large group of insects all of which have two pairs of 
wings and feed exclusively on plant juices but otherwise exhibit an 
amazing variety of weird shapes and queer habits. Among them we 
find the Periodical Cicada or "17-year locust"; the tropical 
Lanternflies, one of which has a huge head shaped like a peanut shell; 
and the Treehoppers with their bizarre misshapen backs -- the 
brownies of the insect world. Here, too, belong the Leafhoppers, often 
having great beauty of color and pattern; the Aphids or Plant Lice 
which have peculiar habits and a bewilderingly complicated life 
history; and the Scale Insects which include not only those which 
wreak havoc on fruit and shade trees but also the Shellac Insect of 
India and the Cochineal Insect, of Mexico, which produces a beautiful 
red dye-stuff. These are some of the remarkable relatives of the bubble 
blower that builds a foam house.

In late spring the young froghopper hatches from an egg laid in plant 
tissue the previous autumn. Creeping to some tender stem, he inserts 
his sharp sucking beak and, head downward, begins to drink sap. Part 
of this is used for food but the rest of it, mixed with waxy secretions 
which make it a sort of natural soap, begins to flow from the tail and 
down over his body in a glistening sticky sheath. As he twists and 
squirms, tiny bubbles appear in this fluid and are spread all around 
him. Soon he is entirely hidden in a mass of foam which may last a 
week or more.

For two thousand years, naturalists have puzzled over how these 
bubbles are formed. Until recently, some thought that the froghopper 
uses his tail like an eggbeater. It is now known that a double row of 
plates, on the under side of the soft flexible abdomen, serves as a 
bellows that blows bubbles of a uniform size. To make each one, his 
tail reaches up to the surface of the liquid, fills the bellows with air 
and then, withdrawn, blows out a bubble. The head-downward position 
and a side-to-side motion combine to distribute the bubbles about him 
as they are formed .

The exact use of this bubble bughouse is questionable Some think that 
it is a protection against enemies and parasites; others, that it is a sort 
of air conditioning arrangement; and some, that it is protection from 
the sun. In any case, the young froghopper grows and molts several 
times before he quits blowing bubbles Finally he passes through his 
last molt and emerges as a grayish adult, about one-quarter inch long, 
able to either hop or fly.

And so, while the spittlebugs are "forever blowing bubbles", we 
suspend publication until September 13, when Bulletin No. 349-A will 
appear.