Miscellaneous . 139 



and they are implanted into the limb somewhat obliquely, so that 

 one end points upwards. When two eggs have been thus placed, 

 the insect withdraws the piercer for a moment, and then inserts it 

 again and drops two more eggs in a line with the first, and repeats 

 the operation till she has filled the fissure from one end to the other, 

 upon which she removes to a little distance, and begins to make 

 another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. She is about fifteen 

 minutes in preparing a single nest and filling it with eggs ; but it is 

 not unusual for her to make fifteen or twenty fissures in the same 

 limb ; and one observer counted fifty nests extending along in a line, 

 each containing fifteen or twenty eggs in two rows, and all of them 

 apparently the work of one insect. After one limb is thus suffi- 

 ciently stocked, the Cicada goes to another, and passes from limb to 

 limb and from tree to tree, till her store, which consists of four or 

 five hundred eggs, is exhausted. At length she becomes so weak 

 by her incessant labours to provide for a succession of her kind, as to 

 falter and fall in attempting to fly, and soon dies. 



Although the Cicadas abound most upon the oak, they resort occa- 

 sionally to other forest trees and even to shrubs when impelled by the 

 necessity for depositing their eggs, and not unfrequently commit 

 them to fruit-trees when the latter are in their vicinity. Indeed there 

 seem to be no trees or shrubs that are exempted from their attacks, 

 except those of the pine and fir tribes, and of these even the white 

 cedar is sometimes invaded by them. The punctured limbs languish 

 and die soon after the eggs which were placed in them are hatched ; 

 they are broken by the winds or by their own weight, and either 

 remain hanging by the bark alone, or fall with their withered foliage 

 to the ground. In this way orchards have suffered severely in conse- 

 quence of the injurious punctures of these insects. 



The eggs are one-twelfth of an inch long, and one-sixteenth of an 

 inch through the middle, but taper at each end to an obtuse point, 

 and are of a pearl-white colour. The shell is so thin and delicate 

 that the form of the included insect can be seen before the egg is 

 hatched, which occurs, according to Dr. Potter, in fifty-two days after 

 it is laid, but other persons say in fourteen days. 



The young insect when it bursts the shell is one- sixteenth of an 

 inch long, and is of a yellowish white colour, except the eyes and the 

 claws of the fore-legs, which are reddish, and it is covered with little 

 hairs. In form it is somewhat grub-like, being longer in proportion 

 than the parent insect, and is furnished with six legs, the first 

 pair of which are very large, shaped almost like lobster-claws, and 

 armed with strong spines beneath. On the shoulders are little pro- 

 minences in the place of wings, and under the breast is a long beak 

 for suction. These little creatures when liberated from the shell 

 are very lively, and their movements are nearly as quick as those of 

 ants. After a few moments their instincts prompt them to get to 

 the ground, but in order to reach it they do not descend the body of 

 the tree, neither do they cast off themselves precipitately, but run- 

 ning to the side of the limb, they deliberately loosen their hold and 

 fall to the earth. It seems, then, that they are not borne to the 



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