88 THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
the absurdity of the theory that the stingmg in question is done by 
the aid of this instrument, the female not being able to puncture the 
soft, yielding flesli at all. In one test reported by Professor Riley, 
^li*. William Muir, of St. Louis, removed a female from a tree wliile 
she was in the act of ovipositing, and placed her on his finger. 
Although she instinctively endeavored to continue her work, she was 
not able to make the least impression on the soft, yielding flesh. A 
second experiment was made by ^Ir. Peter A. Brown, of Philadelphia, 
who himself made several punctures upon his hand with the o^-ipositor 
without experiencing any more serious results than would have 
followed pricking with a pin or other sharp instrument. In a third 
experiment, Doctor Hartman, of Pennsylvania, introduced some 
moisture from the ovipositor into an open wound and it caused no 
inflammation whatever. 
The ovipositor having been removed as the probable source of sting- 
ing, the beak only remains, and it is unquestionably by means of tliis 
instrument that practically all the so-called stings of the Cicada are 
made. The structure of the beak has already been discussed, and it is 
not at all improbable, though certainly a rare occurrence, that the 
Cicada, when held or caught, may thrust out the slender setae and 
puncture the skin. Man}^ other hemipterous insects are kno^^TL to 
'^ sting" in tliis way and to cause some severe momentary pam. The 
sensitiveness of the individual is, however, in the case of the Cicada, 
the sole criterion of injury. The authentic reports of Cicada stings 
show some variations in the effects, but as a rule the result is much 
less serious than the sting of a bee and not m^uch more than the punc- 
ture of a needle, the wound usually healing immediately. 
TRANSFORMATION TO THE ADULT STAGE. 
PERIOD OF EMERGEXCE. 
The date of the issuing of the cicadas fi'om the ground after their 
long concealment varies a little with the latitude, being later m the 
North than in the South. In the accounts of tliis insect published by 
Professor Riley and most other writers up to the present time it has 
been stated that there is A^ery little divergence in the time of issuing 
between the northern and the southern broods, the latter half, or more 
strictly the last week, of May being the normal period for the emerg- 
ence of the insect throughout its range. That there may be, however, 
a considerable difference in time, depending on elevation and tempera- 
ture, m a given district and in the northern and southern parts of the 
country, also determined undoubtedly by temperature, has been fully 
established. The variation in the dates of appearance is illustrated 
bv tlio followmy; records: 
