Twelfth Report of the State Entomologist 



275 



The following account of the manner of oviposition of the Cicada is 

 based on some interesting observations communicated to me in a letter 

 by Mr. Ira H. Lavvton, Superintendent of Schools at Nyack: 



After finishing one fissure the female moved slowly forward 

 about two steps, depressed her ovipositor about 45°, and setting 

 her saws in motion, first alternately and then simultaneously, 

 rapidly penetrated the bark, but the ovipositor was soon elevated 

 to 25°. After penetrating to the full length of her ovipositor 

 and filling that chamber with eggs, she swung a little to one side 

 and through the same hole in the bark excavated the opposite 

 chamber and filled it with eggs. The making of each chamber 

 occupied a little over 20 minutes or a total of 45 minutes for the 

 whole. During the cutting of a fissure, the saws made about 80 

 strokes to the minute, and after making four, the female would 

 rest for a time. The head of the Cicadas WcS directed, in the 

 main, from the tree but not invariably so, as some worked with 

 their head toward the trunk of the tree. 



Fig. 5. 



Sometimes fifty of these fissures maybe made by the same Cicada 



punctures 



female in a twig, provided it is suitable to her needs. After in twig, 

 depositing her complement of from 400 to 500 eggs, she drops exhausted 

 from the branch and dies. 



Natural History. 



The time required for the hatching of the eggs has been variously 

 stated at fifty-two days, forty-two days, and even so brief as four- 

 teen days. 



The newly hatched Cicadas are slender, grub-like creatures about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch long (Fig. 6). They are as lively as ants, and after 

 running about on the tree for a short 

 time they drop to the ground where they 

 bury. Their strong fore legs are ad- 

 mirably adapted for digging, and by 

 their use they burrow in search of 



the tender, succulent rootlets into Fig. C. y tuns Cicada, greatly enlarged. 



which they insert their beaks and extract their modicum of needed 

 nourishment. The larvae" grow so slowly and require so little food, that 

 they cause but slight injury to the trees or the shrubs to which they 

 attach themselves. Ordinarily they remain at a moderate depth, especially 

 during the earlier and later portions of their existence, though at times 

 they have been found a number of feet below the surface. 



