FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE ADULTS. 139 
icanus (Linn.); black-billed cuckoo, C. erythrophthalmus (Wilson); American gold- 
finch, Astragalinus tristis (Linn.); crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos Brehm, and cedar 
bird, Ampelis cedrorum (Vieill.). 
But two specimens of all the birds examined showed no evidence of cicada-eating. 
These were the cerulean warbler, Dendroica cerulea (Wilson), and the warbling vireo, 
Vireosylva gilva (Vieill.). Most birds eat only the softer parts, but some species—the 
robin, brown thrasher, towhee, and a few others—eat also the wings and legs, and 
even occasionally the head. 
I found fox squirrels, Sciurus rufiventer Geoffroy, eating them, the young showing 
greater fondness for this food than did their parents. The ground squirrel, or chip- 
munk, Tamias striatus Baird, was very fond of them. I have seen this mammal 
climb to the highest limbs of an apple tree seeking cicadas. 
When cicadas fell into our streams many of them became the prey of various species 
of fish. Our fishermen complained of their inability to get fish to take the hook while 
they were feeding upon this new food. The remains of this insect were found in black 
bass, Micropterus salmoides Henshall; blue catfish, Jchthelurus punctatus Jordan, and 
white sucker, Catostomus teres Le 8. 
Rev. D. R. Moore, a valued fellow-worker, found two species of snails, Mesodon 
exoleia Binn., and MV. elevata Say, feeding upon dead Cicadas. This fact was a great 
surprise tome. But few instances were recorded of digger wasps killing these insects. 
Stizus grandis Say 4 was the only species observed. Aside from the enemies men- 
tioned above, there were many others to which I could not direct my attention. In 
general, it may be said that beetles, spiders, and other insect enemies prey upon them 
incessantly, while parasitic flies, scavenger beetles, and ants destroy great numbers of 
their dead bodies. 
THE FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE ADULTS. 
The peculiar fungous disease of the adult cicadas was noticed by 
Dr. Joseph Leidy in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Sciences for 1851, page 235, and has since been described as Mas- 
sospora cicadina by Prof. C. H. Peck. Mr. W. T. Hartman, of 
West Chester, Pa., speaking of the occurrence of this fungus in 1851, 
says: 
The posterior part of the abdomen in a large number of male locusts was filled by a 
greenish fungus. * * * The abdomen of the infected males was usually inflated, 
dry, and brittle, and totally dead while the insect was yet flying about. Upon break- 
ing off the hind part of the abdomen, the dust-like spores would fly as from a small 
puffball. 
One male specimen, received in 1868 from Pennsylvania, was 
affected by the same or a similar fungus, the internal parts of the 
abdomen being converted into what appeared to be a brown mold. 
R. H. Warder, of Cleves, Ohio, in speaking of this mold, says: 
I found that in many cases the male organs of generation remained so firmly attached 
to the female during copulation that the male could only disengage himself by break- 
ing away and leaving one or two posterior joints attached to the female, and it is these 
mutilated males which I found affected by the peculiar fungus mentioned, and there- 
fore conclude that the dry rot might be the result of the broken membranes. 
@ Synonymous with Sphecius speciosus Drury. 
b Thirty-first Rept. N. Y. State Museum Nat. Hist., 1879, p. 44. 
