PLANTS SELEOTED FOR OVIPOSITION. 105 
within a week after the emergence of the first individuals. Within 
two weeks the egg punctures begin to. appear here and there in the 
twigs. From this time on oviposition proceeds very rapidly, and 
thousands of individuals may often be noted working at the same 
time on the same tree. 
PLANTS SELECTED. 
The fact that the Cicada is not especially choice in its selection of 
trees in which to place its eggs is patent to any careful observer, 
although a preference is generally shown for oaks and hickories, and 
the apple among the fruit trees. Any plant which presents itself is, 
however, accepted, often herbaceous ones and occasionally evergreens, 
although the sticky resinous sap of the latter seems to be distasteful 
to these insects. No careful, complete list of plants in which they ovi- 
posit has been made, although several observers have made rather 
extensive lists, notably Mr. Butler and Mr. Davis, the latter having 
observed the cicadas laying their eggs in between seventy and eighty 
trees, bushes, and herbaceous plants on Staten Island in 1894, and 
states also that he had evidently not nearly reached the limits of 
plants. In some cases even the large petioles of plants, like the horse- 
chestnuts, had been oviposited in. A list of plants could be given 
which have been put on record, but it would have but little value, as 
in every district in which es appear they will oviposit in practi- 
cally all plants which come their way, with the exception of pines, as 
already stated, which are ordinarily exempt. 
That they are not very choice in this matter is shown by a case of 
faulty instinct reported by Mr. Hunter Nichols, who observed a female 
to alight on the iron rod of a bridge and attempt to insert her eggs, 
even extruding them to the number of seven, some of which remained 
attached to the rod and the others falling to the ground. Other 
similar cases of error on the part of the insect are noted by Mr. Davis. 
In one instance a female had attempted to insert her eggs in the 
very hard stem of catbriar (Smilax rotundifolia) and in another place 
had thrust her ovipositor entirely through the stem of a plant only to 
find that it was hollow. 
The part of the plant selected for a receptacle for the eggs is almost 
invariably the twigs of the previous year’s growth. When larger limbs 
are chosen, as occasionally happens, the female evinces her dislike for 
them by constructing only a nest or two instead of the long series of 
slits which are usually characteristic of her work on limbs of newer 
growth. 
