476 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. V., No. 123, 



I take this opportunity, also, of warning paleon- 

 tologists against the acceptance of the numerous new 

 species, which, without either description or proper 

 comparison, are claimed by Dr. Meyer. 



Angelo Heilprin. 



Academy of natural sciences, 

 Philadelphia, June 3. 



Premature appearance of the periodical 

 cicada. 



On the morning of Oct. 12, 1884, when I chanced 

 to be in Virginia, near Clifton station on the Midland 

 railroad, my attention was attracted by hearing at 

 some distance the characteristic, and to me perfectly 

 familiar, note of the periodical cicada (C. septen- 

 decim). Eegarding this as a somewhat novel occur- 

 rence at that time, I decided to investigate it, and at 

 once proceeded in the direction from which the sound 

 emanated. Though the notes were, as usual, inter- 

 rupted by short intervals, I found it easy to correct 

 my direction with each recurrence of the sound, and 

 was soon at the foot of some small oaks in which the 

 insects were located. There were at least three males, 

 and the interval between the notes was quite short. 

 I stationed myself under one of the trees, and care- 

 fully located the spot from which the sound of one 

 of the insects proceeded. Although it was not pos- 

 sible, from any position I could assume, to see the in- 

 sect itself, hidden as it was in the dense foliage, and 

 at the height of some twenty feet, yet I soon knew 

 within a few square feet the precise part of the tree 

 occupied by it. I remained some fifteen minutes 

 listening to the peculiar murr-r-r-r-r-row with which 

 I had been deeply impressed when a boy (1854 or 

 1855) in my native state (Illinois) at the time of the 

 great swarm that left its withering blight on all the 

 vegetation, but which I have since heard for days 

 together as late as 1878. I think all who are really 

 familiar with this sound will agree with me that it 

 has no counterpart in the whole range of sound- 

 producing creatures. The body of the note lasts, on 

 an average, about two seconds, upon a uniform key, 

 when, without being interrupted, the pitch rapidly 

 drops, with what musicians call a ' slur,' for, as near 

 as I can judge, a full octave or more, and the note 

 abruptly terminates. This peculiar termination is 

 difficult to detect where the trees are full of the sing- 

 ing insects, but it is always present ; and in this case 

 it was clearly marked, affording me a fine opportunity 

 for studying the phases of the note, and timing its 

 length. Had I been an entomologist, and aware how 

 anomalous this occurrence was, I should doubtless 

 have persisted until I had secured a specimen, and 

 should have searched for exuviae, etc. ; but as I felt 

 absolutely certain as to what I heard, and did not 

 know but that it might be a somewhat ordinary 

 occurrence, I merely made a note of the facts, and 

 leisurely left the spot. 



Several days afterwards, happening to be in conver- 

 sation with Prof. C. V. Riley, I casually mentioned 

 the circumstance as a fact in his line, fully expecting 

 him to reply that it was no very unusual thing. To 

 my great surprise, he pronounced it impossible, and 

 wholly discredited the accuracy of my observation. 

 He said I must have heard some other species of 

 cicada ; and, when I asked him what other species had 

 a note precisely like that of the periodical one, he 

 could do no better than to name the common harvest- 

 fly (Cicada pruinosa), the sharp, shrill note of which 

 was also perfectly familiar to me, and so different 

 that I could no more confound it with the other than 

 I could the chirp of a sparrow with the cooing of a 



dove. My attempts to convince him by describing 

 the sound were as ineffective as though I had been 

 speaking to one who was himself unfamiliar with it. 



Having the courage of my convictions, I made bold, 

 on the first opportunity, to lay the subject before a 

 Washington scientific body in the form of a verbal 

 statement of the case, whereupon the learned profes- 

 sor surprised me, not only by no longer positively 

 gainsaying it, but by propounding a theory according 

 to which he admitted the possibility of my observa- 

 tion having been correct. His theory was, that, owing 

 to the exceptional heat of the latter part of that sea- 

 son, a few of the brood of 1885 which were nearest 

 the surface might have been prematurely brought 

 out the autumn before. This seemed very reasona- 

 ble to me, and I promptly (and seriously) congratu- 

 lated Professor Riley on having discovered a theory 

 to explain my fact. 



Here I supposed the matter was to rest; and here 

 it did rest until a few days ago, when to my further 

 surprise, at the close of an exceedingly interesting 

 paper which Professor Riley read before the same so- 

 ciety, on the brood of cicadas which has just appeared, 

 he took occasion to bring up the subject of my Vir- 

 ginia observation, and to pronounce it utterly worth- 

 less, and the occurrence impossible as contrary to all 

 the canons of entomology. On being reminded of 

 his own theory, above stated, which he seemed to 

 have forgotten, he could not disclaim it, and virtually 

 renewed it, leaving himself in the position of both 

 denying and admitting the possibility of the event. 



I do not make these statements with a view to 

 arousing a controversy, but solely in the hope that 

 some of your many observant readers may be able to 

 confirm and perfect the confessedly incomplete record 

 which I hereby make of this singular incident. 



I will, however, venture a suggestion drawn from a 

 field with which I am better acquainted. The theory 

 of Professor Riley might, I think, be greatly strength- 

 ened by facts derived from plants. The effect of a 

 protracted warm spell in autumn upon the vegetation 

 of this climate has been the subject of investigation 

 on my part for a series of years ; and the autumnal 

 flowering of strictly vernal species is a fact attested 

 by a score or more of species, most of which have been 

 recorded and published. It is not contrary to the 

 canons of botany, but consonant to a rational under- 

 standing of causes and effects. And why should not 

 similar causes produce similar effects on insects ? For 

 one, I cannot doubt that they do so ; and I am as firmly 

 convinced now, as I was at the time, that the sound I 

 heard proceeded from veritable seventeen-year locusts 

 that were thus prematurely brought from their long 

 subterranean dungeons into the genial sunlight of 

 that warm October day. Lester F. Ward. 



Washington, June 6. 



The recent Chicago storm and the sun-glow. 



The telegraph reports a very violent thunder-storm 

 at Chicago during the night of June 2; the lightning 

 striking many buildings, and causing the loss of five 

 lives. I was in Chicago during a part of Monday, 

 June 1. At that time the reddish glow around the 

 sun which I have recently described in your columns, 

 was almost as intense as I have ever seen it even in 

 Colorado. In Colorado any great increase in the 

 depth of tint of the circumsolar glow portends a fall 

 in temperature with conditions favorable for cold 

 electrical storms. The rule would seem to be about 

 the same at Chicago, though the Great Lakes may tend 

 to prevent the formation of hail near them. 



G. H. Stone. 



Portland, Me. 



