Twelfth Report of the State Entomologist 285 



under consideration ; yet, though I have studied the habits of various 

 colonies of the Cicada with some attention, I am quite at a loss for any 

 explanation of the phenomena that will bring them in the scope of the 

 theory according to which all our organs and iaculties are the result of 

 formative influences progressively developed through a long line of 

 ancestry. 



In whatever way the problem shall be solved, it has seemed to me of 

 sufficient interest to warrant placing the facts on record. 



Are the Successive Broods Dwindling in Number ? 

 The long term of years elapsing between the appearance of a brood 

 renders it difficult to obtain satisfactory answers to this question from 

 more than a few localities. The following are confined to localities 

 within the State of New York: 



At New Windsor they were reported fully as abundant in 1894 as at 

 the two preceding visitations in i860 and 1877. They were much more 

 abundant at Hillsdale and in greater numbers at Johnsville than at the 

 former appearance. Mr. Frederick Clarkson reports them less abundant 

 in Westchester county, while at New Brighton and Livingston they were 

 much more numerous than he had ever seen them, the ground being a 

 network of holes in many places. At Nyack they were perhaps not as 

 plentiful as in 1877, although 80 holes to the square foot could be counted 

 in places, and at Rock City they were equally abundant. There were 

 about the same number in 1894 as in 1877 at Clermont, Claverack, and 

 Marlboro, and not so many at Barrytown. They were evidently losing 

 ground at Heath, for they were fewer in 1894 than in 1877, and then not 

 so numerous as in x86o. One report gives not so many at Clarksville in 

 1894, while another states that they covered more space but were not so 

 plentiful where they appeared as in 1877. None were reported from 

 Tarry town although they were said to have appeared there in 1877. Mr. 

 Nathan Banks looked for them several times^ without detecting any indi- 

 cation of their presence, in a piece of woods near Westbury, Long Island, 

 where they were seen in 1877. The observations of James Angus com.- 

 municated to me by letter, on their occurrence in Woodlawn Cemetery, 

 New York, are of interest as indicating in a marked manner the effi^ct of 

 cultivation on this insect. No Cicadas were found by him in the im- 

 proved parts of the cemetery, except under one large white oak tiee, 

 although they occurred in the unimproved portions. In preparing the 

 land for interments it was trenched to a depth of at least six feet, except, 

 presumably, in the vicinity of this tree, and here the insects thrived, as 

 was evidenced by the thousands of pupal shells which could have been 

 raked together beneath' its spreading branches. 



