PIPERS AND MINNESINGERS 11 



become confused with that of the locust, which is 

 always a true grasshopper. The cicada whose song is 

 the most familiar to us is the " dog-day harvest-fly " or 

 "Lyreman" (Fig. 3). It resembles the seventeen-year 

 species, except that it is 

 larger and requires only 

 two or three years in 

 the immature state, be- 

 low ground, instead of seven- 

 teen. The Lyreman when seen 

 from above is black, with dull-green 

 scroll ornamentation; below he is 

 covered with white powder. He 

 lives in trees ; hidden beneath the 

 leaves, this arboreal wooer sends 

 forth a high trill, which seems to 

 steep the senses of the hstener in ^"'■^- The Lyreman- 



^ an arboreal wooer. 



the essence of summer noons. If 

 you chance to find a Lyreman fallen from his perch and 

 take him in your hand, he will sing and you can feel 

 his body vibrate with the sound. But it will remain a 

 mystery where the musical instrument is situated, for 

 it is nowhere visible to the uninitiated. However, if 

 you place him on his back, you may see directly behind 

 the base of each hind leg a circular plate, nearly a 

 quarter of an inch in diameter ; beneath each of these 



