BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 
527 
Croydon were calling upon the 14th of March, but a single one 
was recorded from Rose Bay on the 29th of the same month. 
In "Insect Life," [Yol. iv. (1892), p. 248], Riley gives an 
account of the "digger wasp," Sphecius speciosus, which stores its 
nest with one of the common American Cicadas. As I had heard 
that wasps had been seen killing Cicadas here, I kept a look out for 
them. During the height of the " locust season " I frequently 
saw the large yellow sand wasp, Priocnemus bicolor, Smith, 
hunting over the stems of the trees frequented by the Cicadas, 
which generally flew away with a great clatter without my being 
able to see what had happened. Eventually I saw the whole 
business; a hornet flew up, caught by the leg a Cicada engaged in 
sucking up sap, and shook it until it withdrew its style and flew 
away. The hornet then stood over the spot and eagerly sipped 
up the sap as it exuded from the puncture made by the Cicada's 
style. I afterwards saw the same performance on several occa- 
sions, the hornet apparently never hurting the Cicada. 
As a general rule the Cicadas prefer the trunks and stout 
branches to the young twigs and foliage, for with their long and 
powerful sucking mouth they can perforate the bark and obtain 
a plentiful supply of nourishment where the flow of sap is most 
abundant. 
Several accounts have been recently published about the curious 
miniature cities built by the pupae of some of the American 
Cicadas. The pupae (for some reason as yet unsatisfactorily 
explained) come up to the surface before they are ready to emerge, 
and form a hollow dome of clay of from two to four inches in 
height above their tubular shaft about a foot in depth; to the 
bottom of this they again retreat, after adding this superstructure, 
until they are ready to cast their pupal garments. 
Very little is known about the habits of the larvae and pupae of 
any of our species, most of them coming straight up from a con- 
siderable distance below the surface when ready to emerge; but I 
have upon several occasions found a single pupa under stones; 
such were always enclosed in a stout clay cell at the base of 
which was a small reservoir of water. 
