278 [June, 1843. 



the abdomen have each a red border; they were usually found in 

 rocky soil. 



At the subsequent meeting, Mr. Gibbons read an extract of a 

 letter from his brother on the subject of the Cicada septemdecim, in 

 which the writer stated that he had seen them feeding on the sweet 

 gum, by pushing the proboscis into the bark ; when this organ was 

 withdrawn a drop of fluid appeared at the aperture, which served 

 for food to some ants. 



Dr. Mutter exhibited a dissection of the singing apparatus of the 

 Cicada septemdecim, consisting of the diaphragm and an air cell 

 and sounding board on each side, and a pair of muscles. The 

 whole is distinct from the abdominal cavity. The proboscis was 

 hollow, and intestines convoluted, without perceptible oesophagus or 

 stomach. 



Mr. Lukens mentioned that with Mr. T. B. Peale he had seen 

 the Cicada septemdecim feeding, by pushing the proboscis into the 

 bark of trees, particularly young beech trees. 



At the meeting on the 1st July, Dr. McEuen (then Eecording 

 Secretary) stated that the C. septemdecim had disappeared from 

 some places in the vicinity of the city since the occurrence of a 

 heavy rain ; he also exhibited the young branches of trees in which 

 the ova of the insect had been deposited in punctures in longitu- 

 dinal lines, many in one perforation. The young branches had 

 been thereby for the most part destroyed. 



Dr. Buschenberger, at the meeting of July 8th, observed that in 

 travelling from Baltimore to Frederick, Maryland, he had found 

 the C septemdecim abundant at the two places mentioned, whilst 

 none were seen in Montgomery county, between Baltimore and 

 Washington.] 



After the above extracts had been read, Prof. Bogers made some 

 remarks on the subject, chiefly confirmatory of the opinion ex- 

 pressed by him in 1834, of the periodical return of the insect being 

 influenced by geological causes. 



Dr. Goddard referred to the well known fact of the C. septem- 

 decim being occasionally found in a living state at a great distance 

 below the surface. When so discovered, its head is usually down- 

 ward. According to the published statements of a recent observer, 

 Mr. Ehrenberg, of Berlin, minute infusoria may be found at a great 



