4 BRITISH CICAD.E. 



The complicated saw-structure operates on the bark 

 of the feeding-plant, and produces therein the channels 

 for the reception of the eggs, in the manner showed 

 long ago by Reaumur. 



I possess the remains of a male specimen, captured 

 by Mr. C. Barrett in Frillinghurst Wood, two or three 

 miles out of Haslemere. It is interesting, as furnish- 

 ing a second habitat in the British Isles, but hitherto 

 I have failed to obtain other specimens from the same 

 locality. 



These insects appear to be very shy ; and I am 

 informed that any attempt to approach them whilst 

 singing, at any rate on the Continent, has the effect of 

 suppressing their music for a time. 



In June, 1877, Mr. Gulliver captured a fine male 

 Cicadetta at Brockenhurst, in the New Forest. I am 

 told by Mr. I. Anderson that it betrayed itself by a loud 

 stridulation. This fact puts at rest the question of the 

 British insect's powers of song. Mr. Tait, again, in 

 1881, captured a larva of Cicadetta montana in June, at 

 Lyndhurst, New Forest, from which he successfully 

 reared the imago, about the middle of the same month. 

 (Ent. Mo. Mag. xviii. p. 40.) 



Probably this insect is not so rare in Britain as has 

 been generally supposed. Undoubtedly it is localised ; 

 and must be sought for at particular seasons. Thus, 

 in 1887, Mr. Gulliver caught eight individuals on one 

 afternoon at Brockenhurst, and four others subse- 

 quently. Some of these specimens were possessed by 

 Mr. J. Weir, who stated that out of twelve individuals 

 he examined, only one proved to be a male. In 1888 

 I also obtained four more specimens from the same 

 place, one only of which is a male. 



Both of the accomplished American entomologists, 

 Mr. S. H. Scudder and Mr. C. Riley, have studied the 

 notes of various insects, with reference to their musical 

 pitch. Mr. C. Riley thinks that this pitch varies with 

 the density and temperature of the air. 



The following notps refer to the noise made bv the 



