82 
THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
tral ()rsuj)p()rting piece, have serrated cutting edges, and are the chiet 
agents in piercing twigs preparatoiy to the deposition of eggs (fig, 36). 
The relative position of the three parts of the ovipositor and the 
nature of the locking tongues, grooves, and clasps, which make one 
tube of the whole, are illustrated in the accompanying cross sections 
(%. 37). 
The different pieces of the ovipositor attach to flat plates partly 
concealed within and attaching to the wall of the ahulomen, and are 
operated by powerful muscles both in making incisions in the twigs 
and in passing the eggs from the oviduct (which opens at the base 
of the o^^positor) through the tube formed b}' the three parts of tlip 
instrument, until they reach their final 
lodgment in the tmg. The act of o\iposi- 
tion will be described in another place. 
THE MUSICAL APPARATUS. 
Perhaps the most interesting feature of 
the anatomy of the Cicada to the popular 
mind is the musical apparatus, by means 
of which it makes its peculiar note, or song. 
This apparatus and the sounds produced by 
its possessor have been studied and de- 
scribed by many naturalists, beginning \\'ith 
the very earliest, and, in fact, the fullest and 
most accurate description of the method of 
of producing sounds and the anatomical 
structure of the vocal organ in these insects 
is the one given, early in the last century, 
b}'^ that famous French pioneer in the study 
of the biology and anatomy of insects, 
Reaumur. « 
The work of Reaumur was confirmed and added to a hundred years 
later by a most painstaking study of living specimens by another 
French student, Sober, ^ and for a minute technical description of the 
anatomy and workings of the sound apparatus the reader is referred 
to these authors. 
The special modification and structure of these parts in our periodi- 
cal species have been studied b}^ the more important older writers, 
as Potter and Smith, and more recently by W. J. Burnett^ and E. G. 
Love.^ 
Fig. 37.— Cross section of ovipositor 
of Cicada: a, with parts attached 
in natural position; h, separated 
to show interlocking tongues and 
grooves. (Author's illustration.) 
oHistoire des Insects, Vol. V (1740), pp. 158-170, pi. 17. 
&Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1837, Vol. VI, pp. 199-217. 
'•Pror. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1851, Vol. IV, p. 72. 
'^JuLU-u. N. y. Micros. Soc, 1895, XI, pp. 39-42. 
