Ixvi INTRODUCTION. 



To this circumstance must be attributed the numerous 

 observers, past and present, who have bestowed their 

 attention on creatures, many of which, though minute, 

 press themselves on our notice, by the influence they 

 exert on human economy. Unfortunately the complete 

 life-histories of individual species of insects are not 

 numerous. Close observation, beginning from the 

 exclusion from the egg, through subsequent meta- 

 morphic changes, to reproduction and death, involves 

 so much time and exact attention, that few are in the 

 position to give it. 



The economic study of the Tettigidao is yet in its 

 infancy ; indeed, little has been done anywhere beyond 

 a classification and description of the species. The 

 author regrets that he can only in general terms state 

 the habits of the insects he describes. 



Keaumur, De Geer, and others, have briefly treated 

 on the economy of Cicadse ; and Prof. C. Kiley has 

 interestingly shown much of the life-history of the 

 American Cicada septendcccm, which, after committing 

 its ravages on vegetation, constructs erect and super- 

 ficial earthen tubes, within which the pupao undergo 

 their changes. In Syria, large areas of moist earth, 

 at particular seasons of the year, may be seen 

 covered with the pupal exuviae of Cicadae, sticking erect 

 out of the ground, — the insects having risen, as it 

 were, from their tombs. This phenomenon probably 

 gave rise to the adoption of the classic emblems of the 

 Tettix or Cicada in connection with ancient Psychic 

 myths. 



Prof. Westwood says that the ova in the female 

 Cicadas, number from three to four hundred, and that 

 she lays them in grooves cut in the branches of trees, 

 or in the stems of grasses, by the action of her saw- 

 like ovipositor. The young hatched from these ova, 

 soon plunge their rostra into the bark of the food- 

 plants, and the irritating action of the three-barbed 

 seta3, within the sheath, causes a plentiful flow of sap 

 to the wound. This juice is absorbed in the same 



