ATTACKING THE BRANCHES. 39 



first the body is soft and white, excepting a black patch on 

 the back, and the wings are small and soft, but within an 

 hour are fully developed, and before morning the mature 

 insects are ready for flight. They sometimes issue from the 

 ground in immense numbers; above fifteen hundred have 

 been known to arise beneath a single apple-tree, and in some 

 places the whole surface of the soil has, by their operations, 

 appeared almost as full of holes as a honey-comb. 



Remedies. On escaping from the ground, they are attacked 

 by various enemies. Birds and predaceous insects devour 

 them; hogs and poultry feed on them greedily; and in the 

 winged state they are also subject to the attacks of parasites. It 

 seems that human agency can effect but little in the way of stay- 

 ing the progress of these invaders, and the only time when any- 

 thing can be done is early in the morning, when the winged 

 insects newly escaped and in a comparatively feeble and help- 

 less condition may be crushed and destroyed ; but when once 

 they have acquired their full power of wing, it is a hopeless 

 task to attempt to arrest their course. The males have a 

 musical apparatus on each side of the body just behind the 

 wings, which acts like a pair of kettle-drums, producing a 

 very loud, shrill sound. Although partial to oak-trees, on 

 which they most abound, they are very destructive to other 



trees and shrubs, and frequently 



* FIG. 27. 



injure apple-trees. 



A popular idea prevails that 

 these insects are dangerous to 

 handle, that they sting, and 

 that their sting is venomous. 

 As their beaks (a, Fig. 27) are sharp and strong, it is pos- 

 sible that under provocation they may insert these, but, since 

 there is no poison-gland attached, there is little more to fear 

 from their puncture than from the piercing of a needle. 



