210 



PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



thought that the C. emasculator would prove an exclusive 

 parasite of squirrels and that this is indicated by its smaller 

 size. 



Mr. Barber exhibited specimens of the eggs of Cicada 

 lyricen and presented the following notes for publication : 



EGGS OF CICADA LYRICEN DEGEER. 



BY HERBERT S. BARBER. 



The egg-laying habits of the periodical cicada are so well 

 known to everyone that we are too apt to consider its injury 

 as typical of the cicadas. Newell (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent. 

 Bull. 60. pp. 52-58) has, however, described the oviposition of 

 a second species, Cicada erratica Osb., in the South, but be- 

 yond this it seems that nothing on the subject is known of 

 our more common species. 



The reference by Smith and Grossbeck (Ent. News, April, 

 1907, p. 118) to DeGeer's "egg-laying habit of the adult" 



of his Cicada lyricen seems un- 

 fortunate in that the eggs he 

 mentions must belong to some 

 other insect. From DeGeer's ac- 

 count (Mem. Hist. d. Insects, 

 vol. 3, 1773, p. 215) one finds 

 that his specimens consisted of 

 adults and pupal r-kins sent him 

 by M. le Prevots Acrelius from 

 Pennsylvania and Ni'w Jersey, 

 with some remarks on the song 

 and egg-laying habit. The ref- 

 erence to the latter, freely trans- 

 lated, is as follows: ". 

 the females place their eggs in 

 the forks of the branches and 

 these eggs, which are like white 

 points, are confined in a sort of 



, r,. , , . hard and transparent gum-like 

 FIG. 2. Eggs of Cicada lyricen f ,, . ,. , , ,, 



deGeer. Vertical and lateral view m ass of the Size of a hazlenut. 

 of egg-cluster in incision between Obviously this refers to the eggs 

 wood and bark. Outline of single o f some other insect, but my own 

 egg, enlarged. experience does not offer a satis- 



factory guess at its probable identity. 



A female of one of the common cicadas collected at random on 

 Plummers Island, Maryland, was placed in a jar with a hard, 

 dry hickory twig of about one-half inch diameter standing 



\) 



