82 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
become more interested in the various species. The exhibit at 
the bureau of information at the Lion House is so successful 
that the sale of specimens covers the cost of our collecting ex- 
peditions for insects, and the purchase of all foreign specimens, 
thus making the Insect Collection quite self-sustaining. 
Among the large and beautiful moths exhibited during the 
past year were the Indian atlas moths (Attacus edwardsi and 
A. atlas) ; the Indian and African luna moths (Actias selene and 
A. mimosae); the Japanese silk moths (Antheria yama-maia 
and A. mylitta) ; the Mexican silk moth (Attacus orizaba) ; and 
the North American silk-spinning moths such as the Cecropia, 
Polyphemus, Cynthia, Promethea and Luna. 
Owing to the continued success of the series of singing in- 
sects, this feature will be made a permanent one; and it suggests 
a new source of interest for the school children. It is among the 
Orthoptera—the order of insects embracing the cricket and 
the locusts—that we find the predominating species of singing 
insects. Over a dozen species of these were displayed during the 
summer. 
The life history of the mosquito, and of its numerous ene- 
mies, stands as a permanent and very instructive exhibit during 
the summer months. It is our intention to exhibit in full detail 
and with descriptive labels, any type of insect exciting local 
interest through unusual abundance, or a tendency to harm tree 
foliage or farm products. Following this plan, the appearance 
of the seventeen-year locust, in the late spring and early summer 
of 1911, received special attention, and a number of expeditions 
were made to districts where the swarms were of the greatest 
magnitude. During the latter part of May, countless thousands 
of the Cicada septendecim, which requires a period of seventeen 
years to pass through the larval form, appeared over a great 
portion of the eastern United States. The woods resounded with 
a continuous hum made by the males, while the ground, whence 
immature forms had emerged to immediately cast their skin, 
was honey-combed with burrows. Considerable damage followed 
the appearance of this swarm, caused by the ovipositor of the 
female “locust” in inserting her eggs under the bark of the 
terminal portion of the limbs of trees. In a number of areas, 
the fruit trees were quite seriously affected, the apple trees 
suffering most. A detailed description of the return of the 
seventeen-year locust in 1911, appears in the Zoological Society 
Bulletin of July, 1911, (No. 46). A complete life history of this 
Cicada was placed on exhibition, together with a number of 
