A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



in the bark of a tree. Small larvae emerge, fall to the ground, and 

 there, with the help of special spade-like digging-legs, live a sub- 

 terranean existence, feeding on the roots of plants (Plate 29, II, 7). 

 They take their time about it, passing through several moults, for 

 according to their species it may be anything up to seventeen years 

 before they mature. The larva finally appears on the surface of the 

 soil, climbs up a tree, and hooks itself fast ; and then the last moult 

 takes place. The skin of the back splits lengthwise, and the Cicada, 

 henceforth a winged insect, hfts itself out, waits for its plump grey 

 body — as thick as one's finger — to dry, and then flies oflf. The split 

 skin, however, remains hanging on the tree, and gives rise to the 

 legend, which one hears all over Brazil, that the "cigarras" shriek 

 until they burst. 



As a matter of fact, hardly any insect has a louder voice than 

 the Cicada. I often sat in the garden, with my friends, taking part 

 in a lively conversation, when there suddenly sounded, from the 

 nearest tree-trunk, in rapid crescendo, the shrieks of the Cicadas, 

 silencing us completely until they abruptly broke oflf. Nevertheless, 

 I could not be vexed with the musicians ; but only felt thankful that 

 I was still alive to hear such tones of Nature's symphony. When a 

 Cicada sings it is as though a siren began to rotate, ever more and 

 more rapidly, until at last the shrill whistle rings out. Phonetically, 

 one might perhaps represent it by zi, zi, zi, zi, zizizirrrrr. Some have 

 voices which are deeper in pitch, and in the very large forms the 

 siren first howls a bass note, gradually ascending the scale : Uuuua^ 

 zi, zi, zi, zi, zi- Sometimes there is even a pretty harmonizing third. 

 In Seringal, Pernambuco, I wandered into the forest late one 

 afternoon, when the last rays of the sun were shining through the 

 foliage, so that the leaves glistened and the tree-trunks glowed with 

 a reddish light. And then, before I had gone very far, what a revela- 

 tion of life broke upon me ! It was a fortissimo concert of Cicadas, 

 such as I had never before heard. Here one began with the crescendo 

 accelerando of its drums; there another joined in, and suddenly a 

 siren shrieked close to my ear. At the same time, at every moment 

 one of the insects flew oflf, the long glassy wings dragging the heavy 

 body through the air with a loud buzzing sound ; on every side their 

 wings were glittering as these living aeroplanes flew from tree to 

 tree and settled, their heads, with the great eyes on either side, 

 pointing downwards. It was a deafening din, and the whole forest 

 seemed to vibrate ; indeed, one finally seemed to feel a resonance 

 in one's own body. And this filled one with a quite peculiar emotion ; 

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