94 



anus, as 1 have frequently observed, and which is very noticeable on 

 the lower foliage and on the ground, under trees inhabited in some 

 numbers by the cicadas. This discharge of fluid could not reasonably 

 go on without the insect's taking food from time to time. 



From the evidence in hand I am led to believe that both sexes of 

 the periodical cicada normally take food in the usual sense of the 

 word, and that in the case of 3'oung orchard trees, at least adjacent to 

 woods, where the insects are likely to be abundant, injury may result 

 to the plants attacked. 



In discussing this paper Mr. Marlatt said that he wished to con- 

 gratulate the author on having presented the first really thorough and 

 careful observations which had ever been made on the feeding habits 

 of the periodical cicada. Referring to the published statements in his 

 Bulletin No. 14 on the feeding habits of these insects, he said that at 

 the time this bulletin was written it was impossible to make field 

 observations, and that most of the statements relating to food habits 

 were drawn from general literature on the subject, but they included 

 the reported observations of some of the best entomologists which this 

 country has had, namely, Walsh, Riley, and Smith. In his own per- 

 sonal observations he had- never noticed the cicada giving any special 

 evidence of feeding. He was very glad that Mr. Quaintance had gone 

 into the matter so fully, and felt convinced that it had been demon- 

 strated that the cicada does normally and frequently, but perhaps not 

 invariably, take liquid nourishment from trees and plants. 



Mr. Smith thought that Mr. Marlatt was justified in his statements, 

 and it was his opinion before hearing this paper that the digestive 

 system of adults of the periodical cicada was rudimentary and not 

 adapted to carrying oS food stuffs. He had observed it feeding and 

 had some twigs punctured for feeding purposes, but had often examined 

 the digestive organs of both sexes and came to the conclusion that the 

 cicada did not feed as a rule. Most of his examinations, however, 

 had been made on specimens that had been dead for some time, and it 

 was probable that the digestive organs had quite collapsed. 



Mr. Quaintance stated that the intestine of the cicada was very 

 small and thread like and was closely attached to the inner surface of 

 the dorsum of the abdomen of the insect, and unless the dissections 

 were carefully made, and under water, it would be readily overlooked. 



Mr. Marlatt, in further discussion of the food of cicadas, said they fed 

 quite industriously during the warm season of each of their seventeen 

 years of underground life, and that it was, therefore, not unreasonable 

 to suppose, in the absence of direct evidence to the contrary, that for 

 the short period of their aerial life the nourishment previously gained 

 would suffice, and hence the feeding in the adult stage might reason- 

 ably have been supposed to be a matter of chance. In his own obser- 



