63 



way detach little splinters of the wood at one end so as to form a kind of fibrous lid or 

 cover to the perforation. The hole is bored obliquely to the pith and is gradually 

 enlarged by a repetition of the same operation till a longitudinal fissure is formed of 

 sufficient extent to receive from ten to twenty eggs. The side pieces of the piercer serve- 

 as a groove to convey the eggs into the nest, where they are deposited in pairs, side by 

 side, but separated from each other by a portion of woody fibre, and they are implanted 

 into the limb somewhat obliquely, so that one 1 end points upwards. When two eggs haye 

 been thus placed, the insect withdraws the piercer for a moment and then inserts it again 

 and drops two more eggs in a line with the first, and repeats the operation till she has ; 

 filled the fissure from one end to the other, upon which she removes to a little distance 

 and begins to make another nest to contain two more rows of eggs. She is about fifteen 

 minutes in preparing a single nest and filling it with eggs, but it is not unusual for her 

 to make fifteen or twenty fissures in the same limb, and one observer counted fifty nests 

 extending along in a line, each containing fifteen or twenty eggs in two rows, and all of 

 them apparently the work of one insect. 



After one limb is thus stocked, the Cicada goes to another, and passes from limb to 

 limb, and from tree to tree, till her store, which consists of from four to five hundred 

 eggs, is exhausted. The eggs (Fig. 44, e) are one-twelfth of an inch long and one-sixteenth 

 of an inch through the middle, but taper at each end to an obtuse point, and are of a 

 pearl-white color. The young insect when it bursts the shell is one-sixteenth of an inch 

 long, and is of a yellowish-white color, except the eyes and claws' which are reddish, and 

 is covered with little hairs. In form it is somewhat grub-like, being longer in proportion 

 than the parent insect, and is furnished with six legs, the first pair of which are very 

 large, shaped almost like lobster claws, and armed with strong spines beneath. On the 

 shoulders are little prominences in place of wings, and under the breast is a long beak for 

 suction." (Harris.) 



As soon as hatched the young Cicada lets itself fall from the limb and immediately 

 buries itself in the earth, burrowing by means of its mole-like fore feet. 



" The larva (Fig. 44, a) obtains its food from the small vegetable radicles that every- 

 where pervade the fertile earth. It takes its food from the surface of these roots, con- 

 sisting of the moist exudation (like animal perspiration), for which purpose its rostrum 

 or snout is provided with three exeeedingly delicate capillaries or hairs which project 

 from the tube of the snout, and sweep over the surface gathering up the minute drops of 



moisture. This is its only food. The mode of taking it can be seen by a good glass. 77 



(Dr. Smith in Prairie Farmer.) The females appear to prefer oak and hickory, but will 

 oviposit in many other trees and shrubs, sometimes causing serious injury, especially to 

 young trees, as the following extract from the Valley Farmer will show : " We planted 

 an orchard of the best varieties of apple trees last spring. We had taken particular pains, 

 not only in selecting the best varieties, but in planting the trees, and hoped in a few 

 years to partake of the fruit. But our hopes were destined to be blasted. The locusts 

 (Cicadas) during the summer destroyed nearly all of them ; not one in six is living. To 

 look at them one would think that some one had been drawing the teeth of a saw over 

 the bark of every tree." 



Various applications have been tried on the trees, but without appearing to prevenfc- 

 the females depositing their eggs ; but numbers of the insects may be crushed in the early 

 morning and in the evening, as at these times they are not nearly so active as during the- 

 warmer parts of the day, and when issuing from the ground hogs and poultry devour 

 them eagerly. Although included in our lists of Canadian insects, the seventeen year 

 Cicada appears to be very rare in Canada, and so far as known to me has not been< 

 observed in the Province of Quebec. 



16. The White-lined Tree Hopper, Thalia univittata. (Harris)w Order Hemif- 

 tera ; Family Membracidae. 



This insect is about four-tenths of an inch in length, the thorax is brown, has a 

 short obtuse horn, extending obliquely upwards from its forepart, and there is a white 

 line on the back, extending from the top of the horn to the hinder extremity. — (Harris.) 

 Common on oak trees in July according to Harris. 



