240 Transactions. 



that it may, at least occasionally, extend beyond a season is demonstrated 

 by the occurrence of full-grown nymphs of M. cingulata at the end of 

 May (Hudson, Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. 55, p. 181, August, 1919). The 

 famous periodical cicada (Tibicen septemdecim) of North America spends, 

 of course, seventeen years beneath the surface. 



When the time of emergence of the New Zealand species is at hand 

 the full-grown nymph makes its way to the surface and climbs, often to 

 a height of some feet, a tree or any other convenient support. The two 

 sand-dune species are necessarily confined to short, unstable herbage. 

 Dehiscence takes place along the mid-dorsal line of the thorax, and 

 emergence occurs at night, or at least after sunset. The nymphal 

 exuviae remain, abundant and familiar objects, hanging to the support. 



Probably the most noticeable characteristic of the imago is its song, 

 which is produced only by the male. For an account of the sound-producing 

 apparatus of the New Zealand species the reader is referred to a paper by 

 Powell in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. 5, p. 286. 

 Though our large species, M. cingulata, can produce a surprising volume of 

 sound, it is excelled by many foreign species, notably by an Australian form, 

 of which McCoy, quoted by Distant, gives the following account : " It 

 produces almost a deafening sound from the numbers of the individuals 

 in the hottest days, and the loudness of their noise, which, beginning with 

 a prolonged, high-toned whirr like that of a knife-grinder, or the letter R 

 loudly prolonged in a high pitch, continued for a minute or two, breaks 

 into a series of diminuendo ' squawks,' like that of a frightened duck in a 

 farmyard, loud enough to be heard some hundred yards off, and stunning 

 our ears with the shrilling and squalling. This, kept up with ' damnable 

 iteration,' as Falstaff says, by hundreds of individuals all day long, would 

 tax the patience of a saint, if such existed in Australia." 



Though the cicada is usually linked with the cricket in contrast to the 

 conventional provident and industrious ant, and though the life of the cigale 

 is considered an Arcadian existence by the Provencal peasant, its enemies 

 are by no means few. First in importance probably are birds of various 

 species, but especially house-sparrows (Hudson, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 23, 

 p. 51, 1891). Other insects, such as mantids, other carnivorous Orthoptera, 

 dragon-flies, ichneumons, and hornets, have been recorded outside New 

 Zealand as exploiters of the Cicadidae. In New Zealand I have seen the 

 carnivorous Heteropteron, Cermatulus nasalis Westw., that butcher of 

 noctuid caterpillars, attack a male M. cruentata much larger than itself. 

 The bug had inserted its rostrum into the end of the cicada's abdomen. 

 The " singer," attempting to fly, was actually swinging by its exserted 

 extreme abdominal segments, while the bug, gripping with its claws the 

 rough toetoe (Arundo conspicua) leaf, held back hard, though nearly pulled 

 off its perch by the larger insect, which kept up a shrill, screaming stridu- 

 lation, very different from its normal happy note. 



Finally, the fungus Cordyceps Sinclarii attacks the nymph and (less 

 frequently) the imago, occupying every part of the body with mycelial 

 hyphae, in a manner similar to that of the well-known C. Robertsii, the 

 " vegetable caterpillar." 



Measurements. — All dimensions are given in millimetres, and are the 

 averages of large series where such could be obtained. Instead of giving 

 the expanse, I have measured the tegmen itself, thus allowing the im- 

 portant taxonomic ratio of body-length to tegmen-length to be more 

 readily used. 



