Cicada, Harvest-Fly, " Locust " 287 



poisoning for the good reason that their meat is 

 not dead, but ahve, and it staj^s alive until they 

 themselves kill it by eating it, which of course 

 hapj^ens after they have hatched out of the egg, 

 though generally speaking I suppose I should say 

 after it hatches out of the egg. 



This is all interesting, but not half so in- 

 teresting as watching the Digger wasp lug the 

 j^oor Cicada over the rough ground, as I have 

 watched it do, to the trunk of a tree, then ascend 

 the tree to its lower branches, dragging the be- 

 numbed and paralyzed Cicada after it until the 

 wasp reaches the spot where it can spring into the 

 air and by the aid of its raj) idly buzzing wings as a 

 motor, glide slantingly down to the ground again, 

 only to again drag the Cicada to another tree and 

 go through the same process until it reaches the 

 grave it has dug for the poor harvest-fly. 



One time in the mountains of Pike Coimty, I 

 heard a Cicada singing " to beat the band." There 

 was nothing particidarly remarkable about the 

 musical part, because the dry rasping notes of the 

 Cicadas could be heard in every direction — the trees 

 were full of them. But this one was singing wliile 

 it was flying and it was flying in a most peculiar 



