Why, little Nell! What is the matter?
You do wish the frogs would stop spitting on the grass?
Let me see; why, poor child, she is all covered with frog spittle.
That is kind, Ned. See, he is wiping her apron off with some fresh,
clean leaves. Let us rest awhile under this shady tree.
John, pick that grass blade with the frog spittle on it. Be careful not
to disturb it.
[Illustration]
There is a surprise in store for you; this white frothy substance that
is so abundant in some places in the summer and that looks like spittle
is--guess what?
Frog spittle, May says. So you think the frogs spit on the grass do you?
They must be tall frogs to reach up so high.
With this little twig let us carefully brush away the white froth.
Now see.
Yes, there is something in the centre of it.
It is the larva of a--bug!
[Illustration]
The female bug, and here is one of the little things, lays the egg on
the leaf or twigs, and when it hatches the young bug sucks out the sap
of the plant which finally appears as this white froth.
The larva remains surrounded by the froth until its transformations are
complete.
Just before the last moult it stops sucking out sap. The froth dries
about it in the form of a little room, and in this it undergoes its last
moult and comes out--an adult bug.
The froth is supposed to be used as a protection, and it may be against
some enemies, but there are certain wasps that delight in invading the
frothy masses and hauling out the unwilling morsels within to feed to
their young.
No, little Nell, the frogs have nothing whatever to do with this frothy
substance which was called frog spittle before people understood about
the little insect that made it.
They really thought the frogs did it.
The adult spittle insect is called a frog hopper, and it has the power
of leaping very well.
[Illustration]