1903] PA CA'A RD : — C/CA DA 



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regarding their appearance were afforded him by Mr. Charles E. Ford, of Providence, 

 who afterwards called on me, and kindly gave the following account. In driving, 

 June 2, in the town of Coventry, at a point about two miles southwest of Washing- 

 ton village, near the southwest end of Tiogue Reservoir, not far from the New 

 London Turnpike, he was attracted by a loud shrill noise like the concert of the 

 "purring toad." He saw the scrub oak and other bushes for a distance of about 

 one eighth of a mile " covered with them " ; a great many nymph skins were 

 observed clinging to the bushes, and the ground was full of the holes from which 

 the nymphs had crawled out. Mr. Ford also told me that his grandfather observed 

 the same insects at the same locality thirty-four years previously, and that he 

 carried two or three of them to his house and showed them to his family, his mother 

 remembering the circumstance. 



Hoping to verify this information, 1 went to Washington, but owing to continuous 

 stormy weather lasting over two weeks, I was unable to reach the locality until 

 June 27.. It was easily found, the holes and nymph-skins occurring over an area 

 extending about an eighth of a mile on the south side of the road from Washington 

 near "The Pat," now a rope manufactory, to the New London turnpike, on rather 

 high land, formerly covered with oaks, chestnuts, and a few pines, but now over- 

 grown with scrub oaks and chestnuts. 



The nymph skins were abundant, and the scattered holes were numerous, 

 sometimes as many as from 4 to 8 to a square foot. It was too late to find any 

 living Cicadas, as they may have died somewhat prematurely from the effects of 

 the prolonged cold stormy weather. 



The dismembered bodies of the dead Cicadae, wings, separate abdomens, and 

 legs, were picked up. As they were seen alive June 18-19, ^^e fact that those I 

 saw had been broken up and partly destroyed, perhaps by the little black ants 

 frequenting the spot, shows how rapidly insect-remains disappear after death, and 

 accounts for the fact that so few entire dead insects are to be found on the surface 

 of the soil. They had laid but a few eggs; only one or two oak twigs contained a 

 full complement of eggs, whose presence was indicated by the withered leaves, the 

 twig having been perforated, broken, and bent down. 



Mr. L. F. Bennett, living near by, told me that he saw them alive in the trees 

 on June 6 of the present year, and that seventeen years ago a lady saw them in 

 this same locality, /. e., near " The Pat," then called Barclay's. 



Mr. A. J. Andrews, the proprietor of the rope manufactory at "The Pat," was 

 familiar with the Cicada, telling me that his father heard and saw them "about 17 

 years ago" at Spring Lake, or "Maple root," a locality in eastern Coventry two 

 miles northwest of " The Pat," near Mishnock River, a small stream flowing into 

 the Pawtuxet a little west of the village of Washington, He said he heard them 



