They’re kinda spongy and the female lays the casing and eggs in a long stream of goo in the fall, around the twig or stem, and then she dies. They live 1 season. I’ve watched it many times. I had a pet female who used to ride on top of my straw hat all day, and I’d feed her raw hamburger and water, and then take her back to GH-3, where she flew up to the top to dine on flies and insects. I’ll have to post the pic of her on my hat, sometime.
CT of all places has them as offical insects.