viii PREFACE. 



" individuals are often seen whose bulky bodies have been bitten off from the thorax )jy some 

 bird ; and the large and graceful Swallow-tailed Kite at that time feeds on nothing else. 

 I have seen these Kites sweeping round in circles over the tree-tops, and every now and then 

 catching insects off the leaves, so that on shooting them I have found their crops filled with 

 CicadidfB."* In New Zealand, Melampaalta cingulata is destroyed in enormous quantities by 

 the " ordinary house sparrow," and Mr. Hudson, who records the fact, also remarks that he 

 docs not think the species can, from this cause, " long remain abundant in the neighbourhood 

 of our larger towns." t The same thing has occurred in North America, where Tihiccn 

 .scptfiiidccim was also attacked by Passer domcsticus, "and so ravenously and persistently does 

 this bird pursue its food, that the ground is strewn by the wings of the unfortunate Cicada 

 wherever these have been at all numerous." I 



They are not spared by other insects. The eggs of an European species are stated by 

 Eeaumur to be attacked by the larva; of an ichneumon. § In South-East Africa the perfect 

 insects are devoured by Mantidaj. Mrs. Monteiro found "a large green Mantis holding an 

 unfortunate Cicada, from which it had already bitten one eye, and part of the head ; the poor 

 thing — a male . . . . — making its loud stridulating noise all the time." || In the Transvaal, as 

 I have elsewhere recorded, 1 foimd a species of Platijpleura (P. divisa) was captured and eaten 

 by spiders. " On once hearing a particularly loud chorus from a peach-tree, I visited the same 

 to capture specimens, and found that spiders had industriously spread their webs between the 

 branches, and remains of the Platupkimc were suspended in a more or less devoured condition." IT 

 In the neighbourhood of Candahar a writer who records a wonderful congregation of Cicadidse, 

 also states, " The only enemies they appeared to have were some large dragon-flies, which 

 pounced upon them and carried off what appeared to be double their own weight."** Hornets 

 swell the list of insect-foes. Herr Schliiter, in Texas, saw a Cicada of "exceptional size" 

 attacked by a hornet, killed, and actually carried away by its much smaller destroyer, ff 

 They are also subject to fungoid growths. Mr. Peck describes a fungus developed on the 

 abdomen of Tihicen septemdccim, which, though not immediately fatal to the insect, manifestly 

 incapacitates it for propagation. I \ 



The peculiarities in the geographical distribution of the species described in this volume 

 are best understood by a reference to the following systematic list, in which the range of all 

 the species is comparatively scheduled. It will thus be seen that in the extreme west of our 

 region the genus Cicadatra just enters as a Paltearctic representative, whilst in the most 

 eastern portion of our area the genera Prasia and Aerilla are allied to the distinctly Australian 

 genera CiistosoiiKi and CMarocysta. This helps to prove the Cicadan homogeneity of our fauuistic 

 area, which embraces all the known species of the genera Pohjncum, Aixjamiana, Pacua, 

 Graptopsaltria, Toscna, Lcptopsaltvia, Duiuluhia, Pomponia, Psithjristria, Grijptotijinpana, Gaanu, 

 Talabuja, Graptotettix, Huechijs, Scicruptera, Mofianiua, Kamalata, Bustia, Karcnia, Ematliia, 

 CalccKjninus, Teipnosia, Prasia, Bcetitria, and Aerilla. Thus, according to present knowledge, 



* 'Naturalist in Nicaragua,' p. 230. \ Trans. New Zealand Instit. vol. xxiii. p. 50 (1890). 



\ Riley, ' Science,' v. p. 5'21 (1885). § Quoted by Westwood, 'Modern Classif. Ins.' vol. ii. p. 425. 



II ' Delagoa Bay,' p. 188. IT Distant, ' Naturalist in the Transvaal,' p. 67. 



** J. A. S. Beng. vol. ix. p. 441 (1840). f f Biiclmer, ' Mind in Animals,' Mrs. Besaut's Translat. p. 297. 



\l ' Annual Eeport on the New York Museum of Natiu-al History for 1878.' 



