JULT 17, ] 



J5.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



rapid succession of shrill, rattling sounds. Tlie males 

 only possess these musical organs, tho females being 

 absolutely mute — a fact which was embodied in the lines 

 of Xeuarchns, 



"The body of the female is provided with a'coraplicated 

 piercer and ovipositor, consisting of a pair of tiny double- 

 edged saws and a spear - pointed bdror, which plays 

 between them. When not iu use, this iustvumeut is 

 foJded into a longitudinal groove on the umUr .surface of 

 the abdomen. Both sexes have a sharj) beak, ( >r ImudtfUmn, 

 with which they pierce the bark of shrubs and tree^ and 

 extract the small quantity of sap which const ituft-s their 

 sole nourishment. 



" The periodical cicada emei^es from the gi-ound and 



a;ttains its wings during the latter part of May or eaj-ly 



in June, in tho latitude of the Middle States, the males 



usually appearing several days in advance of the females, 



and perishing }Jroixirtional]y early. Immediately after 



pairing, the females begin tho laborious process of ovi- 



' position, the result of which is the sevtro, and sometimes 



j' fatal, summer pruning of our forest and fruit, trees. 



I With her ovipositor the female penetrates the twigs of 



'^'trees, and inserts therein two rows of eggs obliquely 



SeTenteen-yesr Cicada 

 (Cicada Septemdecim, 

 Linn.), Bide view of ? to 

 show beak, a, and ovi- year Cicada, 

 positor, b. Colonre. — 

 Black, brown, and orange. 



placed. The eggs are one-twelfth of an inch iu U'ugtli, 

 of a pearl-white colour, and taper at c.iih ctuI to an 

 obtuse point. They hatch in about six wcrks, usuallv 

 before tho branch containing them I'naks i>iV. Tlic 

 newly-hatched cicada is very activr, i(s nKitiins i-i sriii- 

 bling those of an ant. It so.m easts itself f,ai-l.ssly fr.nn 



of its'being \vaf(r.rg'"t Iv dowiiNvard (.7 tlir i^vi^xm,']. 

 Impelled by instinct, it at ,.ncc burn, us umln-.^ v<.nu,{ in 

 search of rootlfts, upon whose exuilatinus and sap it 

 subsists, penetrating deeper and deepti- inln the larlli in 

 following tlieir cour.se. It has many tuiu s Wm f.uind at 

 a depth of from 10 to 12 ft. 



" This cicada has many enemies, but ncmc more striking 

 than the large hornet or digirev wasp {Sihus granclis), 

 tho female of which stings, ]iaralyscs, and buries it in a 

 burrow beneath the ground as a future store of food for 

 the young wsisp. 



"Ther 



alw 



reports, dm 

 -le..ple; b 



cicada, of its 



mologists have si 



of such stinging are based on m: 



more likely caused by the h' ni 



knocking against a person wlini 



burden, will naturally resent tin 



her sting. 



" The popular appellation ff ' 

 cicada, has given rise to a gndd 

 serves to confound it in tin- j 

 destrnct 



;_' w itli her heavy 

 nlinnnt by using 



t.' applied to this 



led 



vage ( 



:'ol.s 



Tl, 



n.pie 



rts ef .ser 



)rtho,.t: 



with the 

 which 



by these raven.. us pests, whieli l)e^.ll^r tu the .same family 

 as the locu,sts of Serij.ture, alreiwly euuie fi-om the south- 

 east and from California. But the cicada is incapable of 

 any such injury, as it belongs to the Homoptera, a 

 haustellate sub-order, and feeds by suction, so that it can 

 not devour veii-etatinn. The only injury it inflicts is by 

 means of the .idpositer, as the .sawing and puncturing of 

 tlie twigs of trees fcr ovi]iositibn almost invariably causes 

 tlie tijs of the twigs to break off or die. Its injury on 

 young fruit-trees is sometimes very serious." 



ERIES AND MORALITIES. 



( f Hf iiie not only 



■pend fer it exist- 



vas thought 



common to 



gree and detail, 



iardly,"-6ay8 the 



.\neient Celtic,' 



.11 than that the 



ting the Pagans 



jmlices by yield- 



.ven of 



to their old 



-lorses this statement in the 

 of the principal ChristLan 

 pagan prototypes, as, «.</., Christmas 

 if the winter solstice in the Roman 

 H'lebration of the birth of the sun-god 

 1 V(.lie deity; Easter Day with the 

 cnie nature-god Eastre ; -f and May 

 ef tlie\-irgin, with the Floralia of 

 ■ijipi'l if tlu-ir lieenii.ms merriment, 

 al lli.sfory of 





a the 



sixth century to the Abbot Mellitus, then on his waj 

 to this island, in which he bids him tell Angustine, the 

 first Archbishop of Canterbury, that the temples in 

 Britain should not be destroyed, but sprinkled with 



• Quoted in Brand's Pop. Ant. I., 13G. 



t Ostara, or Eastre, eeems to have been the divinity of the 

 lawn, and perhaps of the spring, and the festival in her honour 

 ' could," na Orinim says, " bo easily adapted to the festival of the 

 Io8iirrcction.""-T. II., pp. 290-1. 



