28 . 



females are also affected by it. Dr. E. Gr. Grahn, a friend whose as- 

 sistance I value highly, has, at raj' request, examined the Cicada with a 

 microscope. The result of his examination I give in his own words : 



•'An examination of many of the Cicadse reveals the fact that they 

 have lost several of the posterior segments of the abdomen, and that 

 this part of the insect is filled with a mealy-looking substance of a some- 

 what yellowish color. I subjected this substance to microscopical ex- 

 amination and found it to consist of numberless spherical bodies having 

 the general appearance of spores, and it probably is the Masssspora 

 cicadina (Peck.), but as I had no description of this fungus I could not 

 be certain of this. 



"In Bulletin No. 8 of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Division of Entomology, Prof. Charles Riley mentions this fungus, and 

 quotes Mr. E. fl. Warder, of Cleves, Ohio, who states that 'It seemed 

 to be a drying up of the contents and membranes of the abdomen,' and 

 that he found it in the males who may have lost the posterior segments 

 of the abdomen during copulation, and alludes to it as a 'dry rot,' 

 which ' might be the result of the broken membranes.' 



"He further states that he 'never found a perfect male thus affected,' 

 but finally concludes that 'this is not positive proof.' Whether or not 

 Mr. Warder examined this substance microscopically is not stated, but 

 true it is that in the Cicadas of this year the microscope and the various 

 straining agents reveal countless spherical organized bodies which 

 could not be formed simply by decomposition or transformed of the 

 6 contents and membranes of the abdomen,' and must therefore be re- 

 garded as a growth or multiplication of similar organized bodies hav- 

 ing the properties and functions of seeds or spores, which have, in some 

 manner, gained access to the bodies of the Cicadas. It is true, also, 

 that this fungus is found not only in male Cicadas who have lost the 

 posterior segments of the abdomen, but in perfect males as well, as also 

 in females who are yet in possession of many eggs, and in these speci- 

 mens the eggs and fungus completely fill up the abdomen. In view of 

 these facts — which are well attested — it seems somewhat strange to find 

 Professor Riley quoting without comment the statements of Mr. War- 

 der. The spherical bodies referred to have a diameter of about -^hrth 

 of an inch, and have the appearance of being covered on their exterior 

 with small' granules, spherical in outline, and about ^^"th of an inch 

 in diameter. In their fresh state they were subjected to the action 

 of the iodine solution recommended in Huxley and Martin's ' Practical 

 Biology.' A dark border revealed itself, indicating that the cell wall 

 had taken the stain. Acetic acid rendered them more transparent. 

 Aniline green stained both the cell wall and its contents of a nearly 

 uniform color. Being in doubt whether or not the spherical bodies 

 were single spores, I subjected some rather dry ones to pressure, and the 

 cells thus ruptured emitted large numbers of small spherical bodies, 

 having a diameter of from Tooooth to ^foiyth inch, each large cell hav- 



