FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



body not mealy, but rarely with waxy wool; process 



between the tarsal claws absent or nearly so 



APHIDID.E (p. 87). 



ClCADID^E 



These are called Cicadas, Harvest-flies, and Locusts. 

 The eggs are laid in twigs ; the newly -hatched young drops 

 to the ground and, burrowing into it, feeds by sucking the 

 juices of roots. It lives in this way for some time (the 

 length depending on the species), its appearance changing 

 but slightly. Finally, it digs out by means of its enlarged 

 front feet, crawls on a tree-trunk or some such thing, splits 

 down the back and liberates the adult. The adult male 

 "sings," often very loudly and shrilly, by vibrating 

 membranes stretched over a pair of sound-chambers 

 situated, one at each side, near the base of the abdomen. 



This is the Periodical Cicada or Seven- 



Tibicma teen-year Locust. As a matter of fact, it is 



septendecim . 1 n * m* 



a Thirteen-year Locust in the South. The 



adult has the same general shape (Plate XXII) as its 

 relatives but its eyes and the principal veins of the wings 

 are red. There is nothing mystical in this color or the 

 W on the wings, although the sudden appearance of the 

 adults in large numbers has been supposed to foretell war. 

 For about sixteen years, in the North, the young suck at 

 the roots of plants. Toward the end of this period scale- 

 like rudiments of wings appear. In the spring of the 

 1 7th year the nymph makes its way to the surface of the 

 ground by a smooth firm tunnel. Sometimes, especially 

 if the soil be moist and leaf-covered, it constructs a 

 "chimney" over the exit-hole. Then, from late May to 

 early July, it and the other members of its brood crawl 

 out singly or in droves and, fastening on some support, 

 disclose the adults which have a week or so of aerial life 

 to recompense them for the long period of preparation. 

 There are a score, or more, of different broods, each of 

 which has a rather definite often restricted distribution 

 and time of emergence. Suppose there are three such 

 broods in your neighborhood. One of them (that is, the 



82 



