BUGS. 101 



species are perhaps too much favoured with regard to 

 the organ of speech, says, in a very sarcastic manner — • 



" Quando conveniunt Mariella, Sybilla, Camilla, 

 Sermonem faciunt et ab hoc, et ab hac, et ab ilia." 



According to the observations of several species of 

 Cicadas made by Pontedera, Aldrovand, Reaumur, 

 and many others, the females deposit many hundred 

 eggs in the tender branches of trees, by slitting the 

 bark with their horny, sharp-pointed ovipositor. 

 Their eggs are white, flat, oval, and about the six- 

 teenth of an inch in length. If the weather is favour- 

 able to them, the eggs are hatched in about six weeks, 

 when the young ones leave the tree in the condition 

 of larva?, each one being provided with a mouth and 

 six strong feet, resembling the flea. They then re- 

 treat into the ground, where they feed on roots, accord- 

 ing to the observations of Pontedera, for two years, 

 after which time they come out of the ground, climb 

 upon a fence or the trunk of a tree, burst their 

 transparent shell (Plate IV. Fig. 19), and assume 

 their perfect form as four- winged insects. They now 

 mount in the air, and enjoy their short life, flying 

 from branch to branch and from tree to tree, making 

 music as they go, and in the brief term of four or 

 five weeks fulfil their last destiny, viz., to propagate 

 their species. 



