296 Forty-fourth Report on the State Museum 



Pittsford, N. Y., as having been observed by him on dijfferent 



occasions. 



After selecting a spot, the beetle very carefully turns up a thin 

 piece of skin exposing a place of the size of the thickness of an ordinary 

 pin. It then with its beak makes a hole for the reception of the egg^ 

 which is deposited and carefully arranged therein. The bit of skin 

 is then turned down over it and worked at until it is accurately fitted 

 and seemingly air-tight. The semicircular or crescent cut is then 

 made near it for the purpose of checking the growth of the skin so 

 that the egg may not be disturbed by the future growth. The 

 general opinion, I know, is that the crescent cut is first made and the 

 egg placed underneath it — a small mistake, but how it detracts from 

 the instinctive skill displayed in the more elaborate operation above 

 given. I have never timed a beetle in its act of oviposition, but I 

 judge that it occupies from fifteen to twenty minutes in laying a 

 single egg. 



That our correspondent has correctly described as an " elaborate 



operation," the preparation of the hole for the reception of the egg 



and its closure after oviposition, would seem to find support in the 



statement of Riley and Howard that " the first cutting of the cylindrr- 



cal hole occupied ^ue minutes^ while all the subsequent procedure — 



the deposit of the egg, its packing in, and the cutting of the crescent 



required only from five to eight minutes of time. 



Cicada septendecim Linn. 

 The Periodical Cicada. 



(Ord. Hemipteka: Subord. Homoptera: Fam. CiCADiDiE.) 

 Walsh-Eiley: in Amer. EntomoL, i, 1869, pp. 63-72, figs. 58-64 (broods 



designated, a 13-year for n, etc.). 

 Chambers : in Amer. EntomoL, iii, 1880, p. 77 (occurrence in Colorado in 



1876). 

 Uhler: in Cassino's Stand. Nat. Hist., ii, 1884, p. 227, f. 304, pupa (nat. 



hist, and distribution). 

 Davis: in Entomolog. Amer., i, 1885, p. 91 (on Long Island). 

 Riley : in Harper's Magazine, for June 6, 1885, xxix, p. 363 (of broods vii 



and xxii) ; in Science, for June 25, 1885, v, pp. 518-521 (food, transf., 



voice, etc.); Bull. No. 8, Divis. of Ent.— Dept. Agricul., 1885,46 pp., 



8 figs, (general account); in Rept. Commis. Agricul. for 1885, 



pp. 233-258, plates i and iv, f. 1, pi. 6 (general account) ; in Entomolog. 



Amer., 1885, p. 91 (transfer of eggs, north and south). 

 Lintner : 2d Rept. Ins. N. Y., 1885, pp. 167-179, figs. 43-47 (ereneral account) ; 



5th Rept. do., 1889, p. 276 (experiment with); in Albany Morning 



Express, for June 13, 1890, p. 2, c. 5 (occurrence at Tivoli, N. Y ). 

 Howard: in Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., i, 1885, p. 29 (edibility of). 

 •Butler: in Bull. No. 12, Divis. of Ent.— Dept. Agricul., 1886, pp. 24-31 



(occurrences in S. E. Indiana, habits, nat. enemies, etc.). 

 Schwarz: in Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., i, 1886, p. 52 (voice of, at Fortress 



Monroe, and of what brood ?) 



