by Mr. Mendez I. Cohen, was furnished for inspection by Doctor 

 Joshua I. Cohen, and minutely compared. They are perfect cicadse 

 on the largest scale, with large, long wings that cover their whole 

 body, like a long frock coat, which enable them to fly rapidly, and 

 to a great distance. Their legs are powerful, and they can leap 

 also to a long distance, while the spindle shanks of the locust do 

 not permit such an action, and it is obliged to elevate itself prin- 

 cipally by its wings, having no lever legs to raise it perpendicu- 

 larly. While the cicadse elevate themselves in a perpendicular 

 line quickly, the locust can only raise itself slowly, horizontally. 

 The cicadae breed annually: the locust once in seventeen years. 

 The imaginary resemblance of the notes of the cicadse and lo- 

 cust, have led some to identify them. Such a notion (if it be 

 drawn from a comparison with the cicadae of Greece) is too meta- 

 phorical for a rationale. While it is admitted there is a resem- 

 blance in the construction of their vocal organs, we cannot claim 

 for the American songster a note that can be dignified with the epi- 

 thet musical. The cicadse of Greece must have been highly gifted 

 with musical powers, to have been celebrated by Homer, who 

 compares the strains of his orators to the sweetness of their notes. 

 How differently would the ear of the imperial poet have decided, 

 if he had been condemned to listen to the monotonous, protracted 

 twang of the American locust! He would have been as much 

 pleased with the scraping of a scissor grinder, or the grating of a 

 file. There are a few of our cicadae whose notes do not fall un- 

 gratefully on the ear, but most of them, compare literally with 

 the rauca cicada of Virgil, which could not have been intended for 

 a compliment. 



The male only issues a note, which is the signal of adult age, 

 and is immediately followed by flight, in search of a mate. It has 

 been variously and very erroneously represented, both as to its 

 suavity and compass. If we except a slight variation, when the 

 insect is disturbed or driven from its place, (when it is louder and 

 more obstreperous,) it is single, but rises and falls through the gra- 

 dations ; crescendo, minuendo et cadendo. It has been likened to 



