274 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



of the beak to the pharynx. It is, therefore, probable that 

 capillarity accounts for the fluid rising in the lower part of the 

 stylets. The action of the pharynx is, however, the stronger 

 and more important of the two. There is no arrangement to 

 prevent the fluid from flowing back when the pharyngeal mus- 

 cles relax. Such a device would not be absolutely necessary, 

 since the esophagus is the larger of the two tubes, and most of 

 the food would pass that way. It is also possible for the mus- 

 cles at the front to relax first, thus closing the pharyngeal canal 

 and forcing the liquid into the esophagus. 



Leon and Geise each figures serrations and papillae on the 

 inner surfaces of the pharynx. They suggest that these are 

 used in grinding any granular food that the insect may take. 

 The Cicada certainly has none of these devices, and it would 

 seem that they were scarcely necessary in suctorial insects. 

 The upper lamella of the pharynx is coarser where the pharyn- 

 geal tendons are attached, but this is due only to the natural 

 enlargement of that portion. 



A word here concerning the feeding habits of the cicadas may 

 not be amiss. Early students of these insects held that the 

 adults feed but little, if at all. Some have insisted that the fe- 

 males, needing nourishment for the process of egg-laying, take 

 nourishment, while the males never do. In support of this 

 view, it was announced that the digestive tract of the males was 

 rudimentary. Marlatt, in his excellent report on the periodical 

 cicada, makes the following statement : 



"Such feeding is limited, at any rate, to the females, as in 

 this sex only do we find a perfect digestive apparatus." 



Until recently most of the suggestions on the subject were 

 general aud not supported by actual investigations. In June 

 1902, it was reported to Quaintance that the cicadas were 

 feeding on an orchard near College Park, Maryland. His in- 

 vestigations give us the first authentic information on the sub- 

 ject. (Quaintance, 1902, a and b.) 



Both males and females feed during the adult stage. Some 

 of the beaks were snipped oft' by scissors arid photographs then 

 made of the parts. As described above, the tip of the proboscis 

 was found resting on the bark while the stylets had pierced 

 the cortex. Quaintance immediately dissected the digestive 



