190 INJURIOUS INSECTS 



number of beetles, but wherever they can be used, a 

 most beneficial effect will be noticed the second year, 

 and every year afterwards. All attempts to repel the 

 Curculio by hanging corn-cobs soaked in kerosene in 

 the tree, or by throwing offensive mixtures upon the 

 foliage have proved useless. The most effective method 

 thus far discovered, is to jar down the insects and catch 

 them on sheets. The tree should have a sudden jarring, 

 not a mere shaking. For this purpose it is a good plan 

 to saw off a small limb, leaving a stump a foot or less 

 long, upon which to strike with a heavy mallet, this 

 avoids bruising the bark of the tree. To catch the 

 insects, two pieces of sheeting, each two yards long and 

 a yard wide, may be stiffened by means of small rods or 

 sticks, one at each long side and one in the middle; 

 make the end of these sticks sharp, and cut a notch at a 

 short distance from the end; the points of the sticks may 

 be pushed into the cloth, and the notches will prevent 

 that from slipping. A person can readily carry these 

 from tree to tree, and placing them on the ground, one 

 each side of the trunk, the tree is then to be jarred by a 

 stroke of the mallet. The fallen insects may be crushed 

 between the fingers, or be placed in a vessel of water, 

 upon which there floats a small quantity of kerosene. 



THE PERIODICAL OR SEVENTEEN-YEAR CICADA. 

 (Cicada septendecim, Linn.) 



This insect is popularly known as the f ' Seventeen-year 

 Locust," and by many confounded with the true Locust, 

 and said to devour every green thing, whereas it is en- 

 tirely unlike the " Rocky Mountain Locust," or " Color- 

 ado Grasshopper; " it belongs to another family, and has 

 no jaws with which to devour anything. It simply has 

 a beak to suck the juices of plants. It probably does its 



