66 . NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



land, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, etc. This insect also appeared 

 again nine years after (1843), in innumerable swarms, in the 

 Middle, Southern, and Western States ; and at every appear 

 ance the newspapers say, &quot; This is the year of the resurrec 

 tion of the Seventeen-years Locust, it being now seventeen 

 years since it was last observed.&quot; The editors of the New 

 York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Alexandria newspapers 

 must, therefore, be very incorrect chronologists, or the years 

 in those cities are much shorter than elsewhere. 



Now it is a fact that during my twenty-seven years 

 residence in this country not a single summer has passed 

 without my seeing some of these Red-eyed Cicadas in one 

 or other of the States, and hence I must maintain that the 

 name Seventeen-years Locust is incorrect.* 



* As our distinguished entomologist, Dr. Harris, disagrees with me 

 with regard to the duration of life of the Red-eyed Cicada, I can not 

 omit to quote his opinions on this subject, which he communicated to 

 me in the subsequent letter: 



&quot; CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, January 10, 1S55. 

 11 Professor B. Jaeger: 



&quot;DEAR SIR, On the evening of the 2d instant Professor Agassiz 

 put into my hands, as coming from you, a copy of 3*0111* work on 

 North American Insects. I have carefully read it with much inter 

 est, and am particularly pleased with the anecdotes respecting the 

 celebrated persons whom you have known. In your account of the 

 Cicada septemdccim you maintain, contrary to the current belief in 

 this country, that the term of life of this insect is not extended to 

 seventeen years, but is limited to only about two years ; stating that 

 in the course of twenty-two years residence in this country not a 

 single summer has passed without your seeing some of them in one 

 or other of the States. You are not singular in your opinion, such 

 having been often expressed by gentlemen from Europe who have 

 visited this country as was the case, I believe, with Professor Agas 

 siz, and certainly with some of the scientific gentlemen who accom 

 panied him, but who have subsequently arrived at entirely different 

 conclusions, and now acknowledge that the popular belief seems to 

 be well founded. I beg you to understand that it is not now, and 

 probably never has been maintained, that the Seventeen-years Cicada 

 appears at one and the same time, or in the same vear, in all parts 



