ZOor.OGICAL SOCIETY HI^LLETIN. 



770 



FUILY DEVELOPED INSECTS ASCENDING A TREE. 



of Entomolofry in the American Museum of Nat- 

 ural History, in noting the appearance of these 

 periodical insects in 189-1. During the latter 

 ))eriocl, the weather remained quite uniformly 

 warm and favored the existence of the insects. 

 They were )5articularly numerous along the 

 Palisades of the Hudson River on the New Jer- 

 sey side and by the middle of June the females 

 were busily engaged in depositing their eggs. 

 Of the flora of this region the shrub oak suf- 

 fered the most. A superficial examination of 

 these showed the boughs and trunk to be slit 

 and iJunctured in longitudinal furrows. Some 

 of these injuries extended a distance of five or 

 six inches. By the latter part of the summer 

 a considerable portion of the shrub oaks had 

 died, while those that survived contained many 

 dead branches. Dead branches were numerous 

 on some of the larger trees. The effect of the 

 forest was much the same as if a superficial fire 

 had swe])t througii it. During the latter |)art 



^'^^^^.^ 



ABANDONED LARVAL SHELLS AT THE BASE OF A TREE. 



of June and a short time prior to the disappear- 

 ance of the insects the males continued active, 

 but appeared to be attacked by a fungus. The 

 exterior of the body appeared whitish and the 

 body itself a mere shell filled with a dull white, 

 fungoid powder. A snap of the finger would 

 send the fragile body flying into dust, although 

 the tliorax possessed enough vitality and fluid 

 to actually enable the insect to escape in flight. 

 The early days of July marked the disappear- 

 ance of the perfectly developed insects. 



Despite a cold and tardy spring the 1911 

 visitation came promptly on time. By the first 

 week of June the greater number of the larvae 

 were out of the ground. An interesting obser- 

 vation was made in the northern portion of the 

 Borough of the Bronx. The Cicadas appeared 

 in great numbers in this section of New York 

 City, although they ajjpeared to be restricted to 

 wooded areas. There are vast stretches of open 

 ground in the region mentioned, but these have 





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