CICADAS; DOG-DAY OR HARVEST-FLIES. 103 
times injured in this manner. After about six weeks the eggs 
hatch, the young drop to the ground and bury themselves in the 
earth. Here they live by sucking the sap from the roots of 
plants, at least this is the expressed opinion of most entomologists. 
Yet the writer has so often found them in solid cells of tenaceous 
clay, without any traces of roots even near them, that he doubts 
the correctness of such a conclusion, but rather believes that they 
obtain their food not from the sap of living plants, but rather 
from the moisture in the soil alone. If this is the case it would 
account quite naturally for the long time required to reach the 
adult stage. 
Several weeks before the time of issuing from the ground 
the yellowish-brown pupz can be found beneath stones and other 
objects lying upon the ground, but when ready to change to 
adults they crawl to the side of a fence, out-house or tree, and 
grasp it tightly with their claws. The skin now splits down 
the back and the soft and white creature draws itself out of the 
stiff, old skin, remains suspended for a few hours until the moist- 
ure has evaporated from the body, and the wings have stretched 
to their full size. Meanwhile the distinctive colors of the insect 
have also gradually appeared. 
The introduction of the English sparrow has had the effect 
of gradually killing off these insects, so that whole generations 
have almost disappeared. These birds are very fond of the 
Cicada, and kill immense numbers of them, as may be seen by 
the detached wings of the insects found under the trees. It is 
a pity that these sparrows are not equally fond of other insects! 
The species is shown in various positions and ages in 
Fig. 97. 
It is a medium sized black species, with bright red eyes, 
banded with red on the abdomen, and with red and orange veins 
at the base and costal margins of both pairs of wings. With 
some imagination a “W” can be seen in the veins of the upper 
wings, which superstitious folks declare to mean war or what 
not. 
Cicada tibicen Linn. (The Common Dog-day or Harvest-fly). 
This Cicada, illustrated in Fig. 98, is usually black and green 
in color, and more or less powdered beneath with white. Its 
