INSECTS AFFECTIXC; PARK AXD WOODI.AXD TREES 2"-' 



period required for hatching- has hcen u;ivcn In- various authors at from 52 

 to 42 da\s down to 14. The rec:eiul_\- hatched cicadas are slender orublii<e 

 creatures, about ' 10 inch lonu'. They are as lively as ants, and after run- 

 nini^ about on the tree for a short time, tlrop to the ground and bury 

 themselves. Their stron^r forelegs are -well adapted for dit^i^'-im^ and are 

 undoubtedly of o;reat service in searching for the tender succulent rootlets 

 on which they feed. The young grow so slowly and recjuire so little- food, 

 that but slight injury to trees or shrubs results from their presence. They 

 remain at a moderate depth, specially during the earlier and latter ])ortions 

 of their existence, though at times they have been found a numlier of feet 

 below the surface. There is little change during the lapse- of 16 \(-ars, 

 except in size, between the newly hatched nymph and its full grown form. 

 Towards the latter part of this period, there may be notic(-d four scalelike 

 appendages, the rudimentary wings. The nymph makes its way to the 

 surface in the spring of the; 17th >'ear, by boring a smooth, tirnd\- com- 

 pacted gallery with a channel just large enough to allow the iiisect to ])ass. 

 This gallery may even be iiiade through a hrmly comi)acted pathway- or 

 around stones and other objects which can not be piercc^d. The pupa 

 remains in the upper portion of this gallery till the time coines for it to 

 forsake the earth and undergo its final transformation. Under certain con- 

 ditions, the nymphs construct curious chambers over the mouths of their 

 burrows, and prior to 1894, these structures were regarded as exceedingly 

 rare, but investigations by Dr Lintner in that year revealed their pn-sence 

 in numbers in many localities in the Hudson ri\er valle)-. Mr Benjamin 

 Lander of Xyack, found one tract of land of about 60 acres in extent 

 which had from 5 to 22 of th(;se structures to the square foot. Thesc! inter- 

 esting chambers were also found at Upper .\yack, .South Nyack, (irand \'iew 

 on Hudson, Piermont, and on the top of the Palisades near Al])ine. A 

 number were found at West Point, and Miss P^mily (>. Mcjrton observeil 

 them in the grass at New Windsor. They were seen at Marlboro, occurred 

 in the santh' s(jil along thi- ri\-er at Poughkeepsie and were found under 

 the leaves in the woods at I'angall, were met with at .Athens, and 



