AND HORTICULTURIST. 



275 



that the internal organization of the two forms 

 must be distinct, although externally, when 

 placed side by side, they are exactly alike. 

 Oiherwise. what possible reason could there be 

 for one and the same species to lie underground 

 in the larva state for nearly seventeen years in 

 one cttunty, and in the next adjoining county to 

 lie underground in the larva state for scarcely 

 thirteen year^? I presume that even the most 

 bigoted i)eliever in the old theory of species 

 would allow that, if it can once be proved to his 

 satisfaction that two apparently identical fornis 

 are always structurally distinct, whether in their 

 external or in their internal organization, they 

 must necessarily be distinct species. 



"On the other hand, I firmly believe that 

 many perfectly distinct forms, which at one 

 time passed current, or which even now pass 

 current, as true species, are in reality mere di- 

 morphous forms of one and the same species. 

 We find a good example of this in the dimor- 

 phous female Cynips, q. aciculata, O. S , which 

 has already been treated of at great length. We 

 find another good example of the same thing in 

 Cicada Ca*isinii male and female, Fisher, which 

 is sufficiently distinct from the Periodical Ci- 

 cada to have been classified as a distinct species, 

 and yet never occurs except in the same year 

 and in the same locality as this last, and what 

 is more extraordinary still, is foilnd not only 

 along with the seventeen-year form (C. sep- 

 temdecim), but also along with the thirteen- 

 year form (C. tredeciml. 



"Now, if Cassinii were a distinct species, and 

 not, as I believe it to be, a mere dimorphous 

 form of C. septemdecim and C tredecim, the 

 chances are more than a million millions to one | 

 against its always coinciding with the two other 

 forms, not only as to the particular locality, but 

 as to the particular year of its appearance." 



" I do not know that any one has heretofore 

 •attempted to set at rest, bj' actual proof, the 

 very general skepticism as to this insect remain- 

 ing so long underground, on the part of those 

 persons who have given little attention to the 

 subject. I have been able to trace the develop- 

 ment from year to year of my tredecim brood 

 XVIir in the vicinity of Saint Louis by digging 

 up the larvae each year from 18B8 to 1876, and 

 noting the annual growth. They could always 

 be found within from two to five feet of the sur- 

 face upon the roots of trees, and had by the 

 eighth year attained the first pupa stage, and I 

 have no doubt but that, at this writing, the true 

 pupae are nearing the surface of the ground to 

 appear in myriads in the perfect state in May 

 and June of tliis year. 



"The fungus affecting this Cicada has since 

 been described by Mr. C H. Peck as Massospora 

 cicadina (31st Eep. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 pp. 44, 1879)." 



TAPPING MAPLE TREES IN SPRING, Etc. 



BY N. ROBERTSON, GOVKRNMENT GROUNDS, OTTAWA 

 CANADA. 



Does the tapping of maple trees in spring do 

 them any injury? The general opinion will be, 

 yes. It has always been mine. But I wish to 

 state a somewhat singular instance to which my 

 attention has been called. It is that of two groves 

 of maples, planted at the same time alongside of 

 each other, and in every way holding the same 

 position and treatment ; one has been tapped for 

 seven successive years, yet the trees show as if 

 they were that number of years larger in size 

 with an equal appearance of health ; the other 

 grove has never been tapped. Another is a 

 grape vine neglected to be pruned in the fall, 

 but was done in the spring. That grape, al- 

 though it bled profusely, yielded larger and bet- 

 ter grapes than it ever did before, and better 

 than any growing alongside of it. This would 

 indicate that tapping maples, and spring prun- 

 ing of the grape, did not in any way injure them, 

 but rather the reverse. The insertion of this in 

 your paper might throw some light on this sub- 

 ject, and bring out some new ideas on spring 

 pruning. 



[At a recent meeting of the Pennsylvania 

 State Board of Agriculture, held at Allentown, 

 the subject of maple sugar making was discussed 

 by several intelligent members of the Board, 

 and the general sentiriient seemed to be that 

 there was no serious injury to the trees from the 

 tapping for some years, though some thought 

 there was an injury in time. — Ed. G. M.] 



SEXUAL CHARACTERS IN DICECIOUS 

 TREES. 



BY JACOB B. GARBER, COLUMBIA, PA. 



I am somewhat surprised seeing your remarks 

 in the August number of the Monthly in regard 

 to thePaper Mulberry — "that plants can at times 

 change their sexual character." 



This tree is as regularly male and female on 

 different trees as the fruit-bearing mulberry. 

 There was, and may be yet, a large tree standing 

 on the lot of Wm. Kirkpatrick, afterwards 

 owned by the late Jacob. Stauffer, in Lancaster 

 City, more than thirty years ago. About thirty 

 years ago, a man from New Orleans, traveling in 

 Texas, came across a tree new to him. He sup- 

 posed it to be a cross of the mulberry and the 

 fig. and called it Fig Mulberry. He sent me 

 both seeds and cuttings, and I raised a number 



