THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 25 



[Fig- 9.] shifting a little to one side, she reverses her position, P^ 

 and makes two punctures in an opposite direction to the 

 rest, and thus fills up the straight row close to the base 

 of the side shoot. The eggs (Fig. 1 e) are of a pearl 

 white color, one-twelfth of an inch long, and taper to 

 jj§ an obtuse point at each end. They are deposited in 

 pairs, but separated by a strip of wood, which is wider 

 — and thus causes the eggs to be further apart — at the 

 bottom of the grooves than at their commencement. 

 The punctured twigs bear the appearance of Figure 9, 

 and frequently break off and die, though the great ma- 

 jority remain green and recover from their wounds. In- 

 deed, there is every reason to believe that the eggs sel- 

 dom hatch in those twigs which break off and become m 

 | ^J dry, but that the lite and moisture of the twig is es- 

 QJF sential to their life and development of the egg, for the eggs 

 are noticeably larger just before hatching than when first depos- 

 ited, showing that they are, to a certain extent, nourished by the liv- 

 ing wood, as is the case with those of many Saw-flies. Mr. Kathvon 

 has also recorded the fact that the Cicada eggs are always shriveled 

 in twigs that are amputated by the Oak-pruner (Slenocorus villosus, 

 Fabr.) In the healing of the punctured parts a knot usually forms 

 over each puncture, and I represent, at Figure 10, a portion of an ap- 

 ple twig, sent to me by Mr. John P. McCartney, of Cameron, in Clin- 

 ton county, and which was punctured in the year 1862. Though the 

 wounds had so well healed on the outside, the grooves inside were 

 not filled up, but still contained the minute glistening egg-shells, from 

 which the young larvas had escaped six years before. 



The eggs hatch between the 20th of July and the 1st of August 

 or in about six weeks after being deposit- L Fi g- u.] 



ed. The newly hatched larva (Fig. 11) 

 differs considerably from the full grown 

 larva, but principally in having much 

 longer and distinctly 8-jointed antennae.* 

 It is quite active, and moves its antennas 

 as dexterously and as rapidly as does an ant. As soon as it has extri- 

 cated itself from an exceedingly fine membrane, which still envelops 

 it after it has left the egg,f our little Cicada drops deliberately to the 

 ground; its specific gravity being so insignificant, that it falls through 

 the air as gently and as softly as does a feather. 



The cross veins near the tip end of the upper wings of the Peri- 

 odical Cicada form a dusky zig-zag mark in the shape of a W. Some 

 ignorant persons are silly enough to believe that this mark portends 



*There is frequently a ninth joint partly developed. 



-(-All young- Grasshoppers and Katydids that I have ever hatched were invariably enveloped in 

 a like membrane alter leaving the egg, and until this is thrown off the young insect is awkward in 

 its motions. In the case of the young Cicada, these fine membranes are usually left attached to 

 the roughened orifice of their nidus, and thus form, together, a white glistening bunch. 



