THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



65 



and under such circumstances, the pupas would 

 continue tlieir galleries from four to six inches 

 above ground (Fig. 60, a full view, b sectional 

 view), leaving an orifice of egress even with the 



[Fig. i>l.] 



Colors— Clay -yellow. 



surface (Fig. 60, e). lu the upper end of these 

 chambers the pupas would bo found awaiting 

 their approachiug time of change (Fig. 60 c). 

 They would then back down to below the level 

 of tlie earth, as at d, and issuing forth from the 

 orifice, would attach themselves to the first ob- 

 ject at hand and undergo their transformations 

 in the usual maimer." Mr. Kathvon kindly 

 furnished us with one of these elevated chamb- 

 ers, from which the above drawings were taken. 

 It measured about four inches in length, with a 

 diameter on the inside of five-eighths of an inch) 

 and on the outside of about one and a quarter 

 inches. It was slightly bent at the top and suf- 

 ficiently hard to carry through the mail without 

 breaking. It bore a great re^icmblance to the 

 tube of the Mason bee, figured on p. 9 of our 

 first number, but the inside was less smooth and 

 covered with the imprints of the spines with 

 which the fore legs of the builder are armed. In 

 a field that was being ploughed, about the time 

 of their ascent, we found that single, straight 

 or bent chambers were the most coininon, 

 though there were sometimes several branching 

 near the surface from a main cliamber below, 

 each of the branches containing a pupa. The 

 'same observations have been made by other 

 parties. 



"When ready to transform they invariably at- 

 tach themselves to some object, and, after tlio 

 fly has evolved, the pupa skin is left still adher- 

 ing, as shown at Fig. 59 b. The operation of 

 emerging from the pupa most generally takes 

 place between the hours of 6 and 9 r. m. ; and ten 

 minutes after the pupa skin bursts on tlie back 

 the Cicada will have entirely freed itself from it. 



Immediately after leaving the pupa skin, the 

 body is soft and white, with the exception of a 

 black patch on the prothorax. The wings arc 

 developed in less tlian an hour, but the natural 

 colors of the body are not acquired till several 

 hours have elapsed. These recently developed 

 Cicadas are somewhat dull for a day or so after 

 transforming, but soon become more active, 

 both in flight and song, as their muscles harden. 

 For those who are not informed of the fact, we 

 will state that the males alone are capable of 

 " singing," and that they are true ventriloquists, 

 their rattling noise being produced by a system 

 of muscles in the lower part of the body, which 

 work on the drums under the wings, shown in 

 Fig. .58 at g g, by alternately tightening and 

 loosening them . 



After pairing, the females deposit their eggs 

 in the twigs of diflercnt trees ; and though for 

 this purpose they seem to prefer the oaks and the 

 hickoiies, they oviposit in almost every kind of 

 deciduous tree, and even in herbaceous plants, 

 but never in evergreens. We have seen their 

 eggs in the Chestnut, Locust, Willow and Cotton- 

 wood, in peach twigs of not more than 1-S inch 

 diameter, and also in the stems of the common 

 Aromatic Eupatorium. 



Dr. Harris {Tnj. Ins. p. 212) has well described 

 the mode of depositing, and it is only necessary 

 to add that the female always saws with her 

 head upwards, i. e. towards the terminal part of 

 the branch, except when she comes in contact 

 with a side shoot, when, instead of shiftiu"- a little 

 to one side, she reverses her i^osition, and makes 

 two punctures in an opposite direction to the 

 rest, and- thus fills up the straight row close to 

 the base of tlie side shoot. Tlie eggs (Fig. 59 e) 

 are of a pearl white color, one-twertth of an inch 

 long, and taper to an obtuse point at each end. 

 They are deposited in pairs, but separated by a 

 strip of wood, which is wider — and thus causes 

 the eggs to be furtlier apart — at the bottom of 

 the grooves than at their commencement. The 

 1^.] punctured twigs bear the ap- [F.g. c2.] 

 pearance of Fig. 61, and fre- 

 quently break ott'and die, though 

 the great majority remain green 

 and recover from their wounds. 

 Indeed, our experience of the 

 past summer would indicate 

 that the eggs seldom hatch iii 

 those twigs which break otfaiid 

 become dry; but that the life 

 and moisture of the twig is es- 

 sential to the life and develop- 

 ment of the Qgg. We are 

 strengthened in this belief from 

 the fact that the eggs are notice- 

 ably larger just before hatching 

 than when first deposited, show- 

 ing that the eggs are, to a certain extent, 

 nourished by the living wood, as is the case 



