ORDER II.——BUGS. 67 
That there is a great difference in their numbers in dif- 
ferent years is very true, and the same thing obtains with 
regard to other insects; some years we are overloaded with 
them, and again in others there are scarcely any. This is 
particularly the case with the Rose-bug. The same thing 
also happens in the vegetable world—one year we are fa- 
vored with an immense number of apples, peaches, grapes, 
etc., and the next year we see only a few of them. A su- 
perabundant number of other insects which feed upon the 
Cicada, changes of temperature, and unfavorable weather, 
are probably the causes of increase and decrease in different 
years. And in spite of so many opponents, who believe 
that the Red-eyed Cicada appears only every seventeen 
years, I, according to my own experience, am obliged to 
say, “ For all this, it appears every year ;” as Galileo, when 
he was compelled to undergo the sentence of public recan- 
tation for having taught the revolution of the earth, rose 
of the country. On the contrary, it is well known that though ‘1o- 
cust year,’ as it is improperly called, comes only once in seventeen 
years in the same place, it may occur in other places during various 
other years; so that it may well happen for a diligent traveler and 
observer in various parts of the country, during a succession of years, 
to meet with the same insects repeatedly in different years in differ- 
ent places. In the last edition of my Treatise on Insects injurious 
to Vegetation, I have given an enlarged list of the years and places 
in which this Cicada has been recorded to have appeared. From 
this you will find that its appearance at intervals of seventeen years 
in the same place has been repeatedly observed. Some of the most 
interesting facts in regard to this insect were communicated to me by 
the late Rev. E. S. Goodwin, recording their appearance in Sandwich, 
Massachusetts. The summer of 1855 is the time for their regular 
return at Sandwich, where they have not been seen for some sixteen 
years past, or since the year 1838, if I am rightly informed. 
“Thanking you again most heartily for your kindness, 
‘J remain, my dear Sir, 
“Very respectfully, your humble servant, 
*'THappEvs Wiii1amM Harris.” 
