286 Fiftieth Report on the State Museum 



This Cicada appears, as a rule, to be found in the greatest abundance 

 on wooded heights, as the PaUsades on the Hudson and similar localities, 

 — its numbers decreasing on the lower grounds and back from the river. 

 At New Haven, Conn., none were seen on a damp spot of about an acie 

 in extent in the midst of a numerous colony. At Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 

 they were most abundant in low swampy places, and very abundant 

 directly on the shores of the river. The insect probably can not live in 

 soil constantly saturated with water, although it may thrive in wet soils, 

 and this difference may possibly exist between the wet locality at New 

 Haven and the swampy places in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie. An idea 

 of the abundance in which it appeared in certain localities may be gained 

 from the following notes. At Nyack they occurred "in millions; the 

 ground in many places was honeycombed with holes, and the cast pupal 

 cases could be gathered by the peck." They completely cov- 

 ered the ground in some places at Rock Ciiy, and often the holes 

 from which the pupae came were but lialf an inch apart. At 

 Annandale six of the cases might frequently be counted on a single 

 leaf. At New Windsor, according to Miss Morton, when the insect 

 was most abundant its noise was bewildering, and continued day and 

 night, only intermitting for an hour or two after sunset, and commenc- 

 ing again with the rising of the moon {in Hit.). At Clermont, Columbia 

 county, the noise was almost deafening when at its height, according to 

 Mr. Clermont Livingston, audit was heard at night after the moon rose. 

 The Cicada was also heard in other localities on moonlight nights. 



It is natural that the number of Cicada should vary from generation 

 to generation, as other species of the insect world are known to do, and 

 that the territory occupied by them, in consideration of the clearing of 

 forest lands and cultivation, should be subject to continual fluctuation. 

 So although this brood was not found in 1894 at several places where it 

 was seen in 1877 and occurred in diminished numbers in others, yet the 

 positive evidence of their presence in much larger force at some, and in 

 at least equal strength to their former advent in many other places, would 

 seem to militate against the conclusion that this brood was dying out. 

 That it was not recorded within forty miles of its extreme northern 

 extension in 1843 given it by Dr. Fitch (Schuylerville), may be entirely 

 owing to no special effort having been made for its detection along the 

 upper Hudson. 



Damages by Oviposition. 



The main, if not the only serious damage inflicted by this insect is 

 that caused by its deposit of eggs in the twigs of various trees, — the 



