ATTACKING THE BRANCHES. 37 



eggs have thus been deposited, the insect withdraws her piercer 

 for a moment, and then inserts it again and drops two more eggs 

 in a line with the first, and so on until she has filled the slit 

 from one end to the other. She then removes to a little dis- 

 tance and makes another similar nest : it is not uncommon 

 to find from fifteen to twenty of such fissures in the same 

 limb. The cicada thus passes from limb to limb and from 

 tree to tree until her store of four or five hundred eggs is 

 exhausted, when, worn out by her excessive labors, she dies. 

 The punctured twigs are so weakened by the operations of the 

 insect that they frequently break off when swayed by rough 

 winds, and the injury thus caused to young fruit-trees in 

 orchards or nurseries is sometimes very serious ; in most in- 

 stances, however, if the trees are vigorous, they eventually 

 recover from their wounds. 



The eggs hatch in about six weeks or less, the young larva 

 being of a yellowish-white color, and appearing as shown in 

 Fig. 25. It is active and rapid in its movements, and 

 shortly after its escape from the ^gg drops to the ground, and 

 immediately proceeds to bury itself in the soil by means of 

 its broad and strong fore feet, which are admirably adapted 

 for digging. Once under the surface, these larvae attach 

 themselves to the succulent 

 roots of plants and trees, and, 

 puncturing them with their 

 beaks, imbibe the vegetable 

 juices, which form their sole 

 nourishment. They do not 

 usually descend very deeply 



into the ground, but remain where juicy roots are most 

 abundant, and the only marked alteration to which they are 

 subject during the long period of their existence under ground 

 is a gradual increase in size. 



As the time for their transformation approaches, they as- 

 cend towards the surface, making cylindrical burrows about 

 five-eighths of an inch in diameter, often circuitous, seldom 



