THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST. DESTROYED BY A FUNGUS. '79 



herewith given, extracted from the 31st Report on the i\\ V. State Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, 1879, pp. 19, 20: 



It is a well-known fact that various insects are subject to the attack 

 of parasitic fungi which prove fatal to them. The common house-fly is 

 destroyed by one \Entoinophthora mu>(CCB\ the silk-worm by another 

 [ But nit IS Bassiana], and the pupae of different moths by others. 



Another noticeable instance of this kind was observed the past season. 

 It was found that the "seventeen-year locust," Cicada septeiidecim, 

 which made its appearance in the Hudson river valley early in the 

 su miller, was affected by a fungus. The first specimen of this kind 

 that I saw was taken in New Jersey, and sent to me by Rev. R. B. Post. 

 Examination revealed the fact that the Cicadas or " seventeen-year lo- 

 custs," in this vicinity, were also affected by it. The fungus develops 

 itself in the abdomen of the insect, and consists almost wholly of a mass 

 of pale yellowish or clay-colored spores which, to the naked eye, has 

 the appearance of a lump of whitisJi clay. The insects attacked by it 

 become sluggish and averse to flight, so that they can easily be taken by 

 hand. After a time some of the posterior rings of the abdomen fall 

 away, revealing the fungus within. Strange as it may seem, the insect 

 may, and sometimes does, live for a time even in this condition. Though 

 it is not killed at once, it is manifestly incapacitated for propagation, 

 and, therefore, the fungus may be said to prevent, to some extent, the 

 injury that would otherwise be done to the trees in the deposition of 

 their eggs. For the same reason, the insects of the next generation 

 must be less numerous than they would otherwise be so that the fungus may 

 be regarded as a beneficial one. In Columbia county, the disease pre- 

 vailed to a considerable extent. Along the line of the railroad between 

 Catskill and Livingston stations many dead Cicadas were found, not a 

 few of which were killed by the fungoid mass. As the insect makes its 

 appearance only at intervals of seventeen years, and consequently will 

 not be seen here again till 1894, it will scarcely be possible to make any 

 further observations upon it for some time to come, yet it would be in- 

 teresting to know how the fungus is propagated, or where its germs re- 

 main during the long interval between the appearance of the two genera- 

 tions. Do the fungus germs enter the ground in the body of the larvae, 

 and slowly develop with its growth, becoming mature when it is mature, 

 or do they remain quiescent on or near the surface of the ground, wait- 

 ing to enter the body of the pupa as it emerges seventeen years hence .•* 

 Or, again, is it possible that the fungus is developed annually in some 

 closely related species as the " harvest-fly," Cicada canicniaris, and that 

 it passes over from its usual habitat to the seventeen-year Cicada when- 

 ever it has the opportunity ? These questions are merely suggestive; 

 they cannot yet be answered. 



Prof. Joseph Leidy had previously observed this fungus as early as in 

 1851 — see the Proceedings of the PliiladelpJiia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, for 185 1, v, p. 235 — but had not named it. 



