30 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



insertion of their beaks for nourishment, for Mr. Gustavus Pauls, of 

 Eureka, had a young apricot tree which was so thoroughly punctured 

 in this manner, that he took a gallon of coajulated sap from it, and he 

 attributes the death of some of his trees to this cause. I am con- 

 vinced, however, that the injury done in this manner is comparative- 

 ly trilling. 



On the 13th of June I was sent for by four different parties in St. 

 Louis county, who wished me to try and save their trees from the 

 ruinous work of these cicadas, which had by tin's time began to de- 

 posit their eggs in real earnest. I found that when the wind was high 

 they could, by its aid, be driven to some extent, but that without its 

 aid they could not be driven at all; as when started, they are just as 

 likely to fly behind as before you. I tried lye, whitewash and sul- 

 phur, air-slacked lime and finally carbolic acid, and found that none 

 of these mixtures would affect them. Indeed, after experiments in- 

 volving about §200, 1 am convinced that there is no available way of 

 entirely preventing this ruinous work when they once commence to 

 deposit. The nursery of Mr. Stephen Partridge, a few miles west of 

 St. Louis, which is surrounded on all sides by timber, was more se- 

 riously injured than any other which I saw, and he lost many hundred 

 dollars' worth of apple, peach and pear stock. They also punctured 

 his grape vines very freely, preferring the Clinton and Taylor among 

 varieties. By having all hands turn out early in the morning, and 

 between six and seven o'clock in the evening, while they hung list- 

 lessly to the branches, he succeeded in crushing thousands of them, 

 and thus saved parts of his nursery from total ruin. But it becomes a 

 hopeless task to try to stay their disastrous work wdien once they have 

 acquiied full power of flight; though, while in their feeble and help- 

 less condition, as they leave the ground, they can not only be de- 

 stroyed to far greater advantage by human agency, but hogs and 

 poultry of all kinds, eagerly devour them. There were, it is true, 

 many accounts afloat last summer of hogs being poisoned by them, 

 and, though it is not impossible that one was occasionally killed by 

 over-glutting,* such cases were very rare indeed. From the foregoing, 

 the importance of knowing beforehand when to expect them becomes 

 apparent, and the following chronological table, will not only prove 

 of great scientific interest but of practical value. In the greater part 

 of Missouri, the fruit grower may rest from all anxiety as to their ap- 

 pearance for thirteen years to come, but in the month of May, 1SS1, 

 let him look out for them. 



THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY, WITH PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE APPEAR- 

 ANCE OF ALL WELL ASCERTAINED BROODS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. 



As nothing had been published up to A. D. 18GS, as to the re- 

 gular appearance of any thirteen year broods of Cicadas, it is not at 



* Mr. F. R. Allen, of Allenton, informs me that during years when the army worm (Leucania 

 unipunctata, Haw.) occurred in such swarms, hog* ami < ' led on them to such an extent 



that the former frequenfly died, while the latter laid eggs in which the parts naturally white would 

 be entirely green when cooked. 



