THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR LOCUST 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C. M. Z. S. 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR) 



THE din created by the droning hum of an immense 

 army of seventeen-year cicadas (they are not 

 locusts, though generally called locusts) has been 

 heard coming from the trees and bushes in many places 

 during the past several weeks. The continuous hum of 

 millions of these curious insects is heard throughout the 

 entire day, 

 from early 

 morn until sun- 

 down. 



From the 

 ninth to the 

 twelfth of 

 May, especially 

 where there are 

 mostly maples 

 and oaks, there 

 appeared per- 

 fect hosts of 

 curious, dark 

 amber - colored 

 creatures that 

 helplessly 

 crawled about, 

 each making an 

 effort to reach 

 something that 

 it could creep 

 up upon. Min- 

 gled with these 

 were many 

 "locusts" of the 

 kind here 

 shown in Fig- 

 ure 2. Thou- 

 sands of the 

 helpless horde 

 were crushed 

 underfoot. In 

 some cities and 

 towns the side- 

 walks were ab- 

 solutely s 1 i ]>- 

 pery with the 

 mashed bodies 

 of the victims, 

 while hundreds 

 of thousands 

 of others had 

 escaped this 

 fate through 



climbing UP On Fie. 1. DRIED, EMPTY "SKINS" OF THE SEVENTEEN YEAR CICADA, ATTACHED TO THE 

 & v LEAVES AND FLOWERS OF THE MAPLE LEAF VIBURNUM. THERE IS ONE PERFECT INSECT 



the trees, near the middle of the picture, slightly reduced. 



fences, and other supports in their neighborhoods. 

 These "bugs" do not bite or sting, and they fall into 

 a very interesting family of insects known as the 

 Cicadidce, being popularly called locusts, cicadas, and 

 sometimes harvest-flies. However, they must not be in 

 any way confused with the various species of grasshop- 

 per-like insects 

 that are the 

 true locust, such 

 as our Ameri- 

 can locust 

 (Schisto c e r a 

 americana), or 

 with those that 

 during various 

 periods of his- 

 t o r y formed 

 the great flights 

 in the Old 

 World. Such 

 phenomena are 

 more or less 

 fully described 

 in some of the 

 very oldest 

 works we have, 

 as the locust 

 swarms of an- 

 c i e n t Egypt. 

 Many thought- 

 less people take 

 our seventeen- 

 year cicada to 

 be identically 

 the same spe- 

 cies ; and, too, 

 as a rare oc- 

 c u r r ence, we 

 still meet with 

 some pious, old 

 dame who 

 shudders at the 

 sight and sound 

 of these harm- 

 less hordes, 

 drawing a long 

 breath when 

 the "flight" is 

 over and the 

 people have es- 

 caped the pun- 

 ishment follow- 

 ing upon some 



128.5 



