The old man opened his box. Inside lay a lot of little creatures with backs like beechnuts. "See, look through the lens!"
Betty laughed. "Oh, aren't they funny! The eyes are so big and so far apart."
"And the lines on their heads make them look as if they were gazing through heavy-bowed spectacles," said Mrs. Reece.
"There is a very wise man, and his name is Mr. Comstock, who says that Nature must have been in a joking mood when she made these little tree and leaf hoppers, they are so impish and knowing-looking. Ah, they are the naughty brownies of the insect world!"
"Betty, Betty," called Mrs. Reece, "your popcorn is burning!"
Tree and Leaf Hoppers
"Mother, I don't care to pop any more; let me just listen now. What makes them bad?"
"Well, they are born with a naughty desire to suck everything they can get their tiny sucking beaks upon. They hop around in great numbers on the fruit trees and pierce the leaves with their sharp beaks. Then, with a tubelike lower lip, they suck up the sap. They also make slits in the twigs in which to lay their eggs. In the following spring the eggs hatch, and there is a fresh supply of tree-hoppers ready to begin the mischief their parents left off only when they died."