2l8 



INSECT LIFE. 



MISCELLANEOUS FOREST INSECTS. 



The Cicadas. 



The shrill Cicadas, people of the pine 



Making their summer lives one ceaseless song. — Byron. 



Oiir more common species of cicadas are large 

 insects, but as the nymphs live in the ground, and 

 the adults spend most of their time high up among 

 the branches of trees, they would attract compara- 

 tively little attention were it not for their songs. The 

 student of forest insects, how- 

 ever, is soon made aware of the 

 presence of cicadas if he collects 

 at midday during the period of 

 flight of these insects. Their song 

 is a high, sharp trill, that far ex- 

 ceeds in volume the song of any 

 other insect that sings in the day- 

 time. 



One of our most common spe- 

 cies is the dog-day-harvest-fly. 

 Cicada tibicen {Ci-ca'da ti-bi'cen). 

 This insect (Fig. i86) is black and 

 green in color and more or less 

 powdered beneath. It is found 

 every year in the localities in which it occurs, al- 

 though it requires two years for an individual to at- 

 tain its development. 



The species of cicada that attracts most attention 

 is the periodical cicada. Cicada septendecim (C. sep- 

 ten'de-citti). This species is often called the seventeen- 

 year locust ; but as it is not a locust, this name should 



Fig. i86. 



