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The Frog Hopper: (Cuckoo Spit).

The cuckoo spit is not really a cuckoo spit. The frothy substance which we see here on plants is made by an insect, and remains intact in all kinds of weather.

The so-called spit is a special froth which is produced by a nymph of an insect called the froghopper. The female lays between 50 and 100 eggs in early summer, sliding them into slits in the stems of grasses and other plants. The nymphs hatch out in the following spring and climb the plant to another stem, there to produce this froth-like substance as a protective coat. Without it, the soft body of the nymph would dry up in the sun. The froth is also a guard against birds, as they don't like its taste.

The adult frog hopper can leap great distances and looks like a frog. It is a tree bug, taking its liquid diet through a tube mouth.

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