220 T. W. Harris on the Seventeen-year Locust. 
longer in proportion than the parent insect, and is furnished with 
six legs, the first pair of which are very large, shaped almost like 
lobster-claws, and armed with strong spines beneath. On the 
shoulders are little prominences in the place of wings; and under 
the breast is a long beak for suction. "These little creatures when 
liberated from the shell are very lively, and their movements are 
nearly as quick as those of ants. After a few moments their in- 
stincts prompt them to get to the ground, but in order to reach it 
they do not descend the body of the tree, neither do they cast off 
themselves precipitately ; but running to the side of the limb, 
they deliberately loosen their hold, and fall to the earth. It seems, 
then, that they are not borne to the ground in the egg state by 
the limbs in which their nests are contained, but spontaneously 
make the perilous descent, immediately after they are hatched, 
without any elue, like that of the canker-worm, to carry them in 
safety through the air and break the force of their fall. The in- 
stinct which impels them thus fearlessly to precipitate themselves 
from the trees, from heights of which they can have formed no 
conception, without any experience or knowledge of the result of 
their adventurous leap, is still more remarkable than that which 
carries the gosling to the water as soon as it is hatched. In those 
actions that are the result of foresight, of memory, or of experi- 
ence, animals are controlled by their own reason, as in those to 
which they are led by the use of their ordinary senses or by the 
indulgence of their common appetites they may be said to be 
governed by the laws of their organization; but in such as arise 
from special and extraordinary instincts, we see the most striking 
proofs of that creative wisdom which has implanted in them an 
unerring guide, where reason, the senses and the appetites would 
fail to direct them. The manner of the young Cicadas’ descent, 
probable that the accounts of their having been discovered ten OF 
twelve feet from the top of the ground have been founded on 
some mistake, or the occurrence of the insects at such a depth 
may have been the result of accident. The only alteration to 
