192 



rNTJURIOTJS IKSECTS 



color. The wings expand from two and one-half to three 

 and one-quarter inches. 



In its many years of underground life this insect does 

 more or less damage by feeding upon the roots of plants, 

 but its manifest injury is only when, in the perfect state, 

 the female deposits her eggs in the twigs of fruit trees ^ 

 and at the times of periodical abundance the injury it 

 causes is often serious, and it is properly classed among 

 those injurious to fruit trees. 



In those parts of the country which are subject to the 

 visitation of this Cicada, it may be seen in forests of Oak 

 through the month of June. And such immense num- 

 bers are sometimes congregated as to bend and even 

 break doTVTi th^ limbs of the trees by their weight, and 

 the woods resound with the din of their discordant drums 

 from morning to evening. After pairings the females 

 proceed to prepare a nest for the reception of their eggs. 

 They select, for this purpose, branches of a moderate 

 size, which they clasp on both sides with their legs, and 

 then, bending down the piercer at an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, they repeatedly thrust it obliquely into 

 tlie bark and wood in the direction of the fibres, at the 

 same time patting in motion the lateral saws, and in 

 this way detach little splinters of the wood at one end, 

 so as to form a kind of fibrous lid or cover to the perfo- 

 ration. The hole is bored obliquely to the pith, and is 

 gi-adually enlarged by a repetition of the same operation, 

 until 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 sepa- 

 rated from each other by a portion of woody fibre, and 

 they are implanted in the limb somewhat obliquely, so 

 that one end points upwards. When two eggs have been 

 thus placed, the insect withdraws the piercer for a mo- 

 ment, and then inserts it again and drops two more eggs 



