104 THE INSECT WOELD. 



ing, that hast neither blood nor flesh, what is there prevents thee 

 from being a god ?" 



It was in virtue of the false ideas of the Greeks on natural 

 history in general, and on the Cicada in particular, that this little 

 animal symbolized, among the Athenians, nobility of race. They 

 imagined that the Cicada was formed at the expense of the earth, 

 and in its bosom, on which account those who pretended to an 

 ancient and high origin, wore in their hair a golden Cicada. The 

 Locrians had on their coins the image of a Cicada. This is the 

 origin which fable assigns to the custom : 



The bank of the river upon which Locris was built was covered 

 with screeching legions of Cicadas ; whereas they were never heard 

 (so says the legend) on the opposite bank, on which stood the town 

 Rhegium. In explanation of this circumstance, they pretended 

 that Hercules, wishing one day to sleep on this bank, was so 

 tormented by " the sweet eloquence " of the Cicada, that, furious 

 at their concert, he asked of the gods that they should never sing 

 there more for ever, and his prayer was immediately granted ! 

 This is why the Locrians adopted the Cicada as the arms of their 

 city. 



The Greeks did not only delight as poets and musicians in the 

 song of the Cicada ; they were not content with addressing to it 

 poems, with adoring it and striking medals bearing its image ; 

 obedient to their grosser appetites, they eat it. They thus satisfied 

 at the same time both the mind, the spirit, and the body. 



The Cicadas are easily to be recognised by their heavy, very 

 robust, and rather thick- set bodies, by their broad head, unpro- 

 longed, having very large and prominent ocelli, or simple eyes, 

 three in number, arranged in a triangle on the top of the fore- 

 head, and short antennao. The young elytra and wings have the 

 shape of a sheath or case enveloping the body. When the insect 

 is at rest, these are transparent and destitute of colour, or 

 sometimes adorned with bright and varied hues. The legs 

 are not in the least suited for jumping. The female is provided 

 with an auger with which she makes holes in the bark of trees 

 in which to lay her eggs. The male (Fig. 78) is provided with 

 an organ, not of song, but of stridulation or screeching, which 

 is very rudimentary in the female. We will stop a moment to 



