288 Fiftieth Eeport ox the State Museum 



of no avail. Subsequtni invesiigation and a letter from the father of the 

 lad, proved the story to be utterly false. 



A school-girl, whose name was given, was reported to have been stung 

 in the back of the neck by a Cicada that flew into the school-room : she 

 was taken home in a carriage and died in great agony the following morn- 

 ing. This story had even less foundation than the ]jreceding, as it could 

 not be traced to any reliable source, and the name of the person was not 

 known in the'locality where it was said to have occurred. 



Mr. H. D. Lewis, of Annandale, N. Y., was reported to have been 

 stung so severely as to necessitate the amputation of a finger. His reply 

 to the inquiry made of the truthfulness of the report, was as follows: 

 "Allow me to say that the report of my being stung and the amputation 

 necessary was pure invention, as I still retain the allotted number of 

 bodily members unimpaired." 



The story of a swarm of locusts attacking and killing a horse near 

 Jacksonville, Pa., at the foot of South Mountain, is also another news- 

 paper report deserving of no credence. 



During the last advent of the Cicada in the Hudson river valley, hun- 

 dreds and possibly thousands of persons handled the insects. Many 

 school children amused themselves by playing with them. After investi- 

 gating the newspaper and other reports of fatalities and injuries inflicted 

 by their sting, and mailing nearly one thousand circulars throughout the 

 region visited by the Cica la, in which special inquiry was made in rela- 

 tion to persons stung by it, only one instance of the kind was reported, 

 and even in this there was reason for doubting that the slight wound had 

 been inflicted by a Cicada. From the above, in connection with other 

 investigations, there is good reason to believe that the insect is incapable 

 of inflicting a dangerous or severe sting, and that the fatalities ascribed 

 to it in the past are pure and simple inventions. 



Natural Enemies. 

 A Cicada year is a time of unusual feasting for many vertebrates in the 

 locality where it occurs. Cats and dogs eat the pup^e as they emerge 

 from the ground. Skunks, ground-hogs and grey squirrels have been 

 observed feeding on them, and it is probable that several other quad- 

 rupeds avail themselves of this abundant food-supply so easily obtained. 

 Domestic fowls of all kinds eat them greedily, — in some places they were 

 known to remain* in the woods the entire day feeding on them. They 

 are eaten by most of the insectivorous birds. Robins are said to prefer 

 them to strawberries, and the crow devours them in preference to corn. 



