870 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



close of July, and foi- this reason has been called the 

 Dog-day Harvest-fly. After the egress they mount the 

 trunks of trees or other convenient object, and fasten 

 themselves securely by their claws. Then occurs that 

 change which most country-living people have w\atched 

 with wonder. After a brief rest the pupa^ begin to 

 cast off their amber-colored skins. These have become 

 hard and dry, and the work of emerging is not an easy 

 one. 



" At last, after repeated exertions, the shell cracks, 

 a slit is made lengthwise along the back, through which 

 the cicada pushes its head and body. Next the wings 

 and legs are withdrawn in succession from their sepa- 

 rate cases. The pupa is an imago now ; at last it is 

 free ! It leaves its empty pupa-skin almost entire still 

 fastened to the tree, and crawling to a little distance 

 awaits the completion of its great change. At first 

 emergence the insect is wholly unfit for flight. It is in 

 a sort of border state of existence betw^een its old earth 

 life and its future air life, and is fit for neither. The 

 wing-covers and w'ings are small and opaque, but, being 

 perfectly soft and flexible, they soon stretch out to their 

 full dimensions. The body is swollen to an unwieldy 

 bulk, but in the course of a few hours the superfluous 

 moisture has evaporated. The work of transformation 

 is ended ; the creature is a perfect insect, with strength 

 to mount upon wing and fl}*. (Fig. 119.) 



"Soon the rolling drums of the males are hoard 

 sounding their love-call to their mates. In a fortnight 

 the mother insect begins to lay her eggs, and in the 



