31 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



BROOD VIII.— Scptemdccim— 1855, 1872. 



In the year 1872, being the same year as the preceding, and at in- 

 tervals of 17 years thereafter, they will, in all probability, appear in 

 the southeastern part of Massachusetts; across Long Island; along 

 the Atlantic coast to Chesapeake Bay, and up the Susquehanna at 

 least as far as to Carlisle in Pennsylvania; also, in Kentucky, at Kan- 

 awha.in Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio, on the Ohio river. This is the 

 brood referred to in Brood V, and which there is every reason to be- 

 lieve is the.cne recorded by Morton in his "Memorial," as occurring 

 in 1G33. 



Dr. Fitch, in the account of his 3d brood (N. Y. Rep. I, p. 39), says : 

 "The third brood appears to have the most extensive geographical 

 range. From the southeastern part of Massachusetts, it extends 

 across Long Island, and along the Atlantic coast to Chesapeake Bay, 

 and up the Susquehanna at least as far as to Carlisle in Pennsylvania; 

 and it probably reaches continuously west to the Ohio, for it occupies 

 the valley of that river at Kanawha in Virginia, and onwards to its 

 mouth, and down the valley of the Mississippi probably to its mouth, 

 and up its tributaries, west, into the Indian Territory. This brood has 

 appeared the present year, 1855, and I have received specimens from 

 Long Island, from South Illinois, and the Creek Indian country west 

 of Arkansas," etc. 



There is every reason to believe that Dr. Fitch, in this account, 

 has confounded this septemdecirn Brood VIII, with the great tredecim 

 Brood XVIII, for it so happened that they both occurred simulta- 

 neously in 1855, but the exact dividing line of these two broods is not 

 so easily ascertained. Certainly, after reaching the Ohio river, the 

 septemdecirn brood extends beyond Gallipolis, Ohio, for Prof. Potter, 

 in his "Notes on the Cicada decern septima," records their appear- 

 ance at that place in 1821 ; and Dr. Smith records their appearance at 

 Frankfort, Lexington and Flemingsburg, Kentucky, in 1838, and 1855. 

 But I strongly incline to believe that well nigh the rest of the terri- 

 tory mentioned by Dr. Fitch was occupied by the tredecim, brood, the 

 reasons for which belief will be found in the account of brood XVIII. 



Cicadas also appeared in Buncombe and McDowell counties, North 

 Carolina, in 1855, but until they appear there again it will be impossi- 

 ble to say, positively, whether they belong to this septemdecirn Brood 

 VIII, or to the. tredecim Brood XVIII. 



BROOD IX— Septemdecirn— 1857, 1874. 



In the year 1871, and at intervals of 17 years thereafter, they will 

 propably occur in southeast Nebraska. 



The occurrence of this brood was communicated to me by Mr. 

 Clarke Irvine, of Oregon, Holt county. The brood is most likely con- 

 fined to the eastern or timbered portion of the State, and I judge it 

 to be septemdecirn^ from the fact that the latitude is rather more 

 northerly than tredecim is known to occur. 



