106 
THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
robin, brown thrasher, towhee bunting, and a few otbers — eat also the wings and 
and legs and even occasionally the head. 
I found fox squirrels, Sciurus niger ludovicianus Allen, eating them, the young show- 
ing greater fondness for this food than did their parents. The ground squirrel 
"chipmunk/' Tamais striatus Baird, was very fond of them. I have seen this mam- 
mal climb to the highest limbs of an apple tree seeking Cicadas. 
When Cicadas fell into our streams many of them became the prey of various 
species of fish. Our fishermen complained of their inability to get fish to take the 
hook while they were feeding upon this new food. The remains of this insect were 
found in black bass, M icropierus salmoides Henshall; blue catfish, Ichthaelurus punc- 
tatus Jordan; and white sucker, Catostomus teres Le S. 
Rev. D. R. Moore, a valued fellow-worker, found two species of snails, Mesodon 
exoleta Binn, and M. elevata Say, feeding upon dead Cicadas. This fact was a great 
surprise to me. But few instances were recorded of digger wasps killing these 
insects. Stizus grandis Say 1 was the only species observed. Aside from the enemies 
mentioned above, there were many others to which I could not direct my attention. 
In general it may be said that beetles, spiders, and other insect enemies prey upon 
them incessantly, while parasitic flies, scavenger beetles, and ants destroy great 
numbers of their dead bodies. 
THE FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE ADULTS. 
The peculiar fungous disease of the adult Cicadas was noticed by Dr. 
Joseph Leidy in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Sciences for 1851, page 235, and has since been described as Massospora 
cicadina by Prof. C. H. Peck. 2 Mr. W. T. Hartman, of West Chester, 
Pa., speaking of the occurrence of this fungus in 1851, says: 
The posterior part of the abdomen in a large number of male locusts was filled 
by a greenish fungus. * * The abdomen of the infected males was usually 
inflated, dry and brittle, and totally dead while the insect was yet flying about. 
Upon breaking off the hind part of the abdomen, the dust-like spores would fly as 
from a small puffball. 
One male specimen, received in 1868 from Pennsylvania, was affected 
by the same or a similar fungus, the internal parts of the abdomen 
being converted into what appeared to be a brown mold. R. H. Warder, 
of Cleves, Ohio, in speaking of this mold, says: 
I found that in many cases the male organs of generation remained so firmly 
attached to the female during copulation that the male could only disengage himself 
by breaking away and leaving one or two posterior joints attached to the female, 
and it is these mutilated males which I found affected by the peculiar fungus men- 
tioned, and therefore conclude that the dry rot might be the result of the broken 
membranes. 
It is well established, however, that both males and females are 
affected by this disease, the former, however, in the greatest numbers, 
and that it is by no means confined to injured individuals. 
Professor Peck describes this disease in general terms as follows : 
The fungus develops itself in the abdomen of the insect, and consists almost 
wholly of a mass of pale-yellowish or clay-colored spores, which to the naked eye 
has the appearance of a lump of whitish clay. The insects attacked by it become 
1 Synonymous with Megastizus (Sjyhecius) speciosus Drury. 
2 Thirty-first Rept. N. Y. State Museum Nat. Hist., 1879, p. 44. 
