102 THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
numbers together were often observed w^th their beaks stuck straio^ht 
down atrainst tlie bark in the attitude of feeding, and in numerous 
instances the insects were observed when disturbed extracting the 
thread-hke setae from the plant tissue. Early in the morning or 
late in the evening also the limbs of young apple and pear trees 
were frequently c[uite wet mth sap which had exuded from the 
punctures made wdth the setae of the cicadas. This exudation of 
sap was frequently noticed to immediately follow the withdrawal of 
the sucking apparatus of the insect to such an extent as to run down 
the trunk a distance of 4 or 5 inches. 
Feeding was also observed in forest trees growing near the college 
buildings by means of an opera glass. In the case of forest trees 
the insects commonly go to the upper branches and hence are not 
near enough for observation from the ground, a fact which may 
account somewhat for the failure hitherto to have observed this habit 
of taking food. 
Professor Quaintance also made cross sections of the wood, show- 
ing that the setae had actually penetrated deeply into the sapwood 
of the trees. Both sexes were shown to feed to an equal extent, 
and dissections of the insects themselves showed the stomach to be 
distended to several times its usual size with sap taken from the trees, 
and the alimentary canal w^as found to be perfect in both sexes and 
not rudimentary in the male, as hitherto believed. The intestine 
was very minute, but could be traced from the oesophageal to the anal 
opening. 
Professor Quaintance' s observations undoubtedly indicate that the 
Cicada in the adult stage normally takes food in the same way as do 
other hemipterous insects, and the fact that when these insects are 
kept in confinemeiit for a few days without food they invariably die 
would seem to indicate the necessity of liquid food. Mr. Quaintance 
himself, however, queried if the amount of feeding might not vary 
witli difl'erent broods; and that the Cicada necessarily and always 
takes food has not yet been fully established. 
The taking of food by the Cicada at any rate seems to cause the 
trees normalty very little injury and is not accompanied apparent!}^ 
by any special poisoning of the wood which causes the death or 
sloughing off of bark, as is more or less the case with the San Jose 
scale, for example; and the belief expressed in Bulletin 14 may be 
perhaps adhered to, that, so far as real injury is concerned, the feeding 
in the adult stage is a negligible feature. 
THE CICADA AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. 
Tlie fact has alread}^ been alluded lo tliat the common name 
''locust," given by the early colonists to this insect, was undoubtedly 
owin<r to a confusion of the Cicada witli tlu^ miirratorv locust of the 
