1288 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and empty cases. They were carefully studied and also 

 used for photography, the illustrations accompanying 

 this article being made especially for it. 



The nymphs dig out of the ground through the use 

 of their strong and enlarged fore-feet, the matured insect 

 subsequently emerging from a slit down the back. All 

 of this is seen in Figure i through carefully regarding 

 the several specimens. Sometimes we meet with cases 

 where the insect died when only partly out of the case. 

 In still others the wings crumple up, and the helpless 

 insects crawl about on the ground. Probably there are 

 also other kinds of deformities. 



In flight, the seventeen-year cicada is not at all rapid, 

 nor is that flight, as a rule, long sustained. Most often 

 it is in a straight line or on a long curve, either ascending 

 or descending. They are very loath to move in a rain- 

 storm, or when wet from 

 any cause. There is no 

 trouble in catching the adult 

 insects, and when held in 

 the fingers they commonly 

 emit a loud, humming 

 noise ; should the wings be 

 free to move at such times, 

 they whirl them rapidly, 

 thus adding to the fuss they 

 make. On even ground, 

 this cicada walks with great 

 deliberation, bringing the 

 fore-pair of legs to the 

 front with marked cicadian 

 dignity at regular intervals. 

 Frequently, when on the 

 ground, one may get over 

 on its back, when it will 

 violently whirl its wings in 

 its efforts to right itself 

 again. In warm, dry 

 weather they are far more 

 active than when the air is 

 chilly and damp. 



When observing children capture these "locusts" they 

 will call your attention to the W near the upper, outer 

 angle of each fore-wing and with a dubious shake of their 

 heads predict that a war is near at hand. This is backed 

 up by inviting attention to the reddish color on the wings 

 of our larger species of cicada, where this ominous W is 

 also to be seen. As the Cicadidce have been in existence 

 for a great many thousands of yeais, during which time 

 millions of men have been slain in wars, this harmless 

 superstition is hardly worthy of a smile. Strange to 

 relate, however, we have many "grown-ups" among us 

 who are firm believers in this and similar "signs." 



This family of Cicadidce contains many other species 

 besides the thirteen-year and seventeen-year ones ; a 

 larger one of the eastern United States is well known. 

 It comes along during the "dog days" of summer or a 

 little later, and its "song" is indicative of the approach 

 of early autumn. Rarely do we hear more than one or 



MAP SHOWING THE "HOSTESS" STATES— TERRITORY IN 

 THE PERIODICAL CICADA (LOCUST) APPEARED IN 1919. 



DOTS INDICATE 

 COLONIES. 



two of these together — in cities usually from the shade 

 trees along the streets. The "song" has a definite begin- 

 ning and ending, and is not a continuous hum as is the 

 case with the seventeen-year fellow. 



There are a number of tropical species ; and out West 

 a very cute little form, much lighter in color, that the 

 writer has observed in thousands on the sage brush on 

 the prairies. This probably is the one that Dr. Frank 

 E. Lutz refers to in his work, a Fieldbook of Insects, 

 when he says: "Of the genus Cicada (as now limited, 

 Tettigia), the small hieroglyphica (Plate XXII.), with an 

 almost transparent abdomen, may be found in pine bar- 

 rens, and is our only species." (P. 84.) 



Kirby, in his Text-Book of Entomology, figures Thopha 

 saccata, Amyot, and says that it is an Australian insect, 

 remarkable for the large drums of the male. It is rusty 



brown ; the thorax is band- 

 ed with black and yellow, 

 and the abdomen is black." 

 From tip to tip, this giant 

 among the Cicadidce meas- 

 ures five and a half inches. 

 Three very fine species 

 inhabit China, and others 

 are found in South Africa. 

 The big one of the East 

 Indies (Dundnbia impera- 

 toria Westw. ) measures 

 over eight inches across the 

 spread wings ! 



Kirby remarks that the 

 "Cicadas are improperly 

 called "locusts" both in 

 America and Australia. In 

 countries where they 

 abound, the larger species 

 keep up a perpetual chirp- 

 ing, and they and other in- 

 sects make the woods re- 

 sound with their song at 

 almost all hours of the day 

 and night. Hence, I have been assured by travellers who 

 have spent some years in the Tropics, that nothing struck 

 them so much on their return to England as what seemed 

 the death-like stillness of our woods, and that it was 

 months, or even years, before they were able to divest 

 themselves of the impression that it was always winter." 

 Were such travelers able to hear the din created by the 

 thousands of the seventeen-year cicadas "singing" in 

 concert in the trees, they would most assuredly have but 

 slender grounds for such complaint. 



One of the very best accounts of our cicadas is given 

 us by Dr. L. O. Howard, in his well-known Insect Book, 

 fully illustrated by many of Riley's excellent cuts. These 

 last include the "young Earva" of the seventeen-year 

 species, which stands in evidence of Doctor Howard's 

 belief in its accuracy. 



"The ultimate fate of this interesting species," says 

 this eminent authority, "is undoubtedly extinction, and its 



WHICH 

 LARGE 



DENSE AND SMALL DOTS SCATTERING 



