FAMILY CICADID.E. iSi 



but Ihe long-settled districts of the State, those which were reclaimed from the forest fifty 

 years ago, will not be so much subject to attacks of the kind. Observation at the time of 

 the appearance of these insects will tend to throw some light upon the question, whether, 

 for instance, a certain tree was known to have been infested by them. 



The Cicada lays between.fom- and five hundred eggs ; and hence the provision for the 

 continuance of the species, it would seem, is ample : in consequence, however, of the 

 accidents to which it is subjected in its larva and pupa state, its increase is by no means 

 great, and in the older sections of New-York and New-England it certainly does not hold 

 its own in numbers. 



Tlie larva does not necessarily descend deep into the earth : never beyond the reach of 

 the roots of the trees on which it feeds ; and in some places where I have seen it issue 

 from the earth, it could not have penetrated directly more than six inches, in consequence 

 of the underlying rock. It is hardly necessary to repeat the old notion respecting them, 

 that they continue to descend for eight and a half years, and then begin their return to the 

 surface ; yet it is well established that they appear only at intervals of seventeen years, 

 making some allowance for the irregular appearance of a few which may precede or 

 succeed the main brood a year or two earlier or later than the rule allows. For a similar 

 reason, probably, the cicada does not appear the same year in different parts of the coun- 

 try*. 



Mr. Harris has given, in his treatise on insects injurious to vegetation, a long list of the 

 times when and places where the seventeen-year locust has made its visits, together with 

 an interesting history of the economy and habits of this singular animal. The insect, ac- 

 cording to the author referred to, does not select any particular species of tree in preference 

 npon which to deposit its eggs : most, if not all kinds of trees except the pine and fir, 

 have been found with their limbs pierced by it. 



The eggs, according to the observations of Miss Morris, are hatched in forty-two days : 

 others say in less time ; but however this may be, prior to the time of hatching, most of 

 the wounded branches which have received eggs are detached, and have fallen to the 

 ground : at least this was the case when they appeared in the vicinity of Troy about the 

 year 1830. The twigs perish much sooner when wounded by this insect, than if a wound 

 of etjual magnitude were inflicted upon them with a knife : indeed, in a very few hours 

 after receiving a deposit of eggs, the twig is perfectly dead. 



The extent of injury inflicted by the th«se locusts upon forest and fruit trees does not 

 seem to be very serious : it amounts to only a foreshortening of the limbs ; and if the 

 tree is injured at all, it speedily recovers. The injury is far less than that which often 

 follows when the wound is made in the axis of growth. No remedy seems to be required, 



• Harbi!' : Insects injurious vegetation, p. 183. The ieptendecim appeared in Madison county (New- York) 

 in 18J5. 



