BOOK XI. XXX. 90-xxxii. 93 



any bloodless creatures. Some think that they also 

 devour their own oifspring, and that only one is left, 

 a specially clever one that by perching on his mothers 

 haunches secures himself by this position against 

 both her tail and her bite ; and that this one is the 

 avenger of the rest, as he finally kills their parent 

 with a blow from above. They are produced in 

 broods of eleven. 



XXXI. These geckoes in a certain manner have the Oeckoet. 

 nature of chamaeleons, living only on dew and on 

 spiders as well. 



XXXII. The hfe-history of the cicada" is similar. ^^'■cj<^'" 

 Of this there are two kinds : the smaller ones that 

 come out first and perish latest— these however 



are mute ; subsequent is the flight of those that 

 sing: they are called Singers, and the smaller ones 

 among them grass-hoppers, but the foi-mer are more 

 vocal. The males in either class sing, but the females 

 are silent. These creatures are used as food by the 

 Eastward races, even the Parthians with their 

 abundant resources ; they prefer the males before 

 mating and the females afterwards, being seduced 

 by their eggs, which are white. They couple lying 

 on their backs. They have a very sharp prickliness 

 on the back, with which they hollow a place in the 

 ground for their offspring. This is produced first as 

 a grub, and then from this comes what is callcd the 

 larva ; at the period of the solstices they break the 

 shell of this and fly out, always at night ; at first 

 they are black and hard. This is the only living 

 creature actually without a mouth ; they have instead 

 a sort of row of prickles resembling tongues, this 

 also being on the breast, with which they lick the 

 dew. The breast itself forms a pipe ; the singers use 



489 



