ORDER II.' BUGS. 67 



That there is a great difference in their numbers in dif- 

 ferent years is very true, and the same thing obtains with 

 regard to other insects ; some years we are overloaded with 

 them, and again in others there are scarcely any. This is 

 particularly the case with the Rose-bug. The same thing 

 also happens in the vegetable world one year we are fa- 

 vored with an immense number of apples, peaches, grapes, 

 etc., and the next year we see only a few of them. A su- 

 perabundant number of other insects which feed upon the 

 Cicada, changes of temperature, and unfavorable weather, 

 are probably the causes of increase and decrease in different 

 years. And in spite of so many opponents, who believe 

 that the Red-eyed Cicada appears only every seventeen 

 years, I, according to my own experience, am obliged to 

 say, " For all this, it appears every year ;" as Galileo, when 

 he was compelled to undergo the sentence of public recan- 

 tation for having taught the revolution of the earth, rose 



of the country. On the contrary, it is well known that though 'lo- 

 cust year,' as it is improperly called, comes only once in seventeen 

 years in the same place, it may occur in other places during various 

 other years ; so that it may well happen for a diligent traveler and 

 observer in various parts of the country, during a succession of years, 

 to meet with the same insects repeatedly in different years in differ- 

 ent places. In the last edition of my Treatise on Insects injurious 

 to Vegetation, I have given an enlarged list of the years and places 

 in which this Cicada has been recorded to have appeared. From 

 this you will find that its appearance at intervals of seventeen years 

 in the same place has been repeatedly observed. Some ofMhe most 

 interesting facts in regard to this insect were communicated to me by 

 the late Rev. E. S. Goodwin, recording their appearance in Sandwich, 

 Massachusetts. The summer of 1855 is the time for their regular 

 return at Sandwich, where they have not been seen for some sixteen 

 years past, or since the year 1833, if I am rightly informed. 

 " Thanking you again most heartily for your kindness, 

 " I remain, my dear Sir, 



" Very respectfully, your humble servant, 



"THADDEUS WILLIAM HARRIS." 



