io6 



THE INSECT WORLD. 



male sings while she is at work. 



When the cell is sufficiently deep | 

 and properly prepared, the \ 

 female lays at the bottom of.i 

 it from five to eight eggs. I 



From these eggs come very 

 small white grubs (Fig. 8i), 

 which leave their nest, descend 

 by the trunk, and bury them- 

 selves in the ground, where 

 they devour the roots of the 

 tree. They then become pupje, 

 and hollowing out the earth 

 with their front legs, which 

 are very much developed, con- 

 tinue to live at the expense 

 of the roots. At the end ol 

 spring these pupoe (Fig. 82^ 

 come out of the earth, hook^^ 

 themselves on to the trunks o;*^ 

 trees, and strip themselves onr 

 fine evening of their skin 

 which remains whole and dried 

 Very weak at first, these meta 

 morphosed insects drag them 

 selves along with difficulty 

 But next day, warmed by thi 

 first rays of the sun, havim 

 had, no doubt, time to reflec 

 on their new social positior 

 and less astonished than the 

 were on the preceding evening 

 they agitate their wings, the. 

 fly, and the males send forth into the air the first notes of the., 

 screeching concert. The Cicadas remam on trees, whose sap th . 

 suck by means of their sharp-pointed beak. ^ It is difficult enoug 

 ?o catch them, for owing to their large, highly-developed wmg 

 they fly rapidly away on the slightest noise. 



They inhabit the south of Europe, the whole of Africa from nor 

 to south, America in the same latitudes as Europe, the whole of t 

 centre a^d south of Asia, New Holland, and the ^^^^^^f/^f .^^^^^^^J 

 The Cicada, which in hot dimates always ^^P^^^%^^^^^^ ^^, J'^fjf ' 

 of the most scorching sun, is not found m temperate or cold regior 



Fig 80.— Female Cicada laying her eggs in the 

 groove she has bored in the branch of a tree. 



