WILLIAM 



OF CALIFORNIA HOSPITAL 

 SAN FRANCISCO 



CIGflDfl. 



allied to the bugs is a group of remarkable 

 insects to which naturalists now apply the name 

 of Cicada, but which are generally, though improperly, 

 designated Locust by the common people. They are readily 

 distinguished by their broad heads, large prominent eyes, 

 with three eyelets triangularly placed between them, and 

 delicately transparent, veined wing-covers and wings. The 

 abdomen is short and pointed, and the legs are short, the 

 anterior femora being much thickened and toothed beneath. 

 The hinder extremity of the body of the female is conical, 

 and the under-side has a longitudinal channel for the recep- 

 tion of the ovipositor, or piercer, which is furthermore pro- 

 tected by four short-grooved pieces which are immovably 

 fixed to the sides of the channel. The piercer itself consists 

 of two outer parts grooved on the inside and slightly 

 enlarged and angular at the tips, which are externally beset 

 with small saw-like teeth, and a central spear-pointed borer 

 which plays between the other two, thus combining the 

 advantages of an awl and a double-edged saw, or rather of 

 two key-hole saws cutting opposite to each other. A hard, 

 horny substance, called chitine, the same as exists in the 

 stings of bees and wasps, is the material of its composition. 

 It would be impossible to conceive of anything more exactly 

 fitted for its required uses than is this beautiful complicated 

 instrument. 



But the most peculiar characteristic of this family, how- 

 ever, consists in the structure of the mechanism by which 

 the males make the trilling sound for which they have been 



