BUGS. 95 



ter. According to Dr. Hildreth's account of the -Cicada 

 Septendeciin, or Seventeen-years Locust, in Prof. Sil- 

 linian's Journal, No. xviii., July, 1830, this Insect ap- 

 peared in 1829 in immense numbers in the States of 

 Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and New Jersey. But the same quantity were 

 observed five years after, in 1834, in the States of 

 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- 

 ginia, Ohio, Indiana, &c. This Insect also appeared 

 again nine years 'after (1843), in innumerable swarms, 

 in the Middle, Southern and Western States ; and at 

 every appearance the newspapers say, "This is the 

 year of the resurrection of the Seventeen-years Locust, it 

 being now seventeen years since it was last observed." 

 The editors of the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

 and Alexandria newspapers must therefore be very 

 incorrect chronologists, or the years in those cities are 

 much shorter than elsewhere. 



Now it is a fact, that during my twenty-two years' 

 residence in this country, not a single summer has 

 passed without my seeing some of these Red-eyed Ci- 

 cadas in one or other of the States, and hence I must 

 maintain that the name Seventeen-years Locust is 

 neither correct nor proper. 



That there is a great difference in their numbers in 

 different years is very true, and the same thing obtains 

 with regard to other Insects ; some years we are over- 



