1286 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



willful niisdenieanors of the nation. Of these cicadas 

 there are a number of species, all looking very much 

 alike, some being very large and some very small, with 

 color in general agreement ; their common appearance is 

 well shown in the cuts illustrating this article. Several 

 species are found in Europe and several still diflferent 

 kinds in the Americas. All true cicadas belong to the 

 Order Hemiptera, and constitute the typical genus of 

 the family Cicadidcr. All are of comparatively good size, 

 the males having under their wings peculiar little "drums" 

 wherewith they make the humming note so familiar to 

 all, while the female has a most interesting history. She 

 deposits her eggs from about the end of May through 

 the entire 

 month of June ; 

 these are dis- 

 covered to be 

 in pairs in the 

 twigs of many 

 kinds of oaks 

 and other trees, 

 and are very 

 small, spindle- 

 shaped objects. 



In the case 

 of this seven- 

 teen-year cica- 

 da, the larvae 

 hatch out in 

 about six 

 weeks from the 

 time the female 

 lays the eggs ; 

 they then im- 

 mediately fall 

 to the ground, 

 into which they 

 burrow, to 

 spend the next 

 teventeen years 

 of their lives, 

 remaining only 

 a few days in 

 the pupa stage. 

 During all this 

 time, their only food consists of the juices of the roots 

 of certain trees, they being provided with the means of 

 sucking the roots. 



It has been shown that the female is quite indifferent 

 to the kind of tree, shrub, or brush into the twigs of 

 which she deposits her eggs. Often much harm is thus 

 done to fruit trees, such as the apple and pear ; and 

 so severe is the treatment sometimes and the number of 

 punctures sustained, that the death of the tree follows. 

 Peach trees have been thus destroyed, proving the cicada 

 to be, in many instances, a harmful insect. When cherry 

 trees are selected, the exuding gum usually seals in the 

 egg or young, and they never come to anything. Some 

 females show wonderful fecundity, the line of minute 



Fig. 2. SEVENTEEN-VE.\R CIC.^D.^S. WITH ONE EMPTY .SKIN-CASE. WASHINGTON SPECI- 

 MENS OF 1919. FROM LIFE AND NATURAL SIZE. NOTE THE DISPOSITION TO ADVANCE THE 

 FORE PAIR OF LEGS. 



jnuictures for the eggs on the twig often having a length 

 of more than two feet. 



At the time these cicadas laid their eggs in the grooves 

 they cut in certain trees, along towards the middle of 

 June, the effects very soon became apparent. Especially 

 was this true in the case of all the species of oaks, chest- 

 nut oaks, and sassafras shrubs. The big twigs thus 

 operated upon by the insect had all the leaves beyond the 

 line of punctures die and turn a deep tan color. Some 

 large oaks thus wounded presented a mottled appearance 

 at a little distance, the general body of the tree retaining 

 its normal dark green foilage, with the dead, brown 

 patches irregularly distributed all over it. In general. 



the tree sus- 

 tained no other 

 injury. 



Mr. S. S. 

 R a t h V o r, of 

 Lancaster, 

 Pennsylvania, 

 gives interest- 

 ing facts in the 

 life history of 

 these cicadas 

 saying, in part, 

 referring to 

 the eggs and 

 young of the 

 seventeen -year 

 Cicada ; "many 

 people who en- 

 deavor to study 

 the insect fail 

 to produce the 

 young by keep- 

 i n g branches 

 containing eggs 

 in their studios. 

 ] so failed in 

 1834 and 1 85 1, 

 and indeed I 

 have never 

 heard that any 

 one has suc- 

 ceeded in that way who has kept them for any length of 

 time. In the brood of 1868 the first Cicadas appeared 

 in a body, on the evening of the second day of June. The 

 first pair in coitii I observed on the 21st, and the first 

 female depositing on the 26th of the same month. The 

 first young appeared on the 5th of August. All these 

 dates are some ten days later than corresponding obser- 

 vations made Ijy myself and others in former years. 



"On the I5tli of July, I cut off some apple, pear, and 

 chestnut twigs containing eggs, stuck the ends into a 

 bottle containing water, and set it in a broad, shallow 

 dish also filled with water, the whole remaining out of 

 doors exposed to the weather, whatever it might be. The 

 young continued to drop out on the water in the dish 



