104 THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
He also states that wlien the cicadas first leave the earth they are 
phimp and full of oily juices; so much so that the}" are employed in 
making soap. 
^Ii". John Bartram, writing of the brood which appeared near Phila- 
delphia in 1749, and referring to the pupae as they appeared near the 
surface of the ground toward the end of April, says that they were then 
fidl of a thick white matter like cream and that hogs rooted up the 
ground a foot deep in search of them. Dr. Potter refers briefly to the 
fact that great numbers of them are ^'devoured ])y hogs, squirrels, 
all kinds of poultr}", and birds, which live and fatten on them.'' 
That they are sometimes considered to be poisonous when made an 
object of food is indicated in the following quotation from Doctor 
Phares. He says: 
Many species of domestic and wild birds, quadrupeds, and other animals eat the 
cicadas greedily and with impunity. In 1859 they were said to have killed a few 
hogs in Amite County. They have no poison about them, yet it is not to be wondered 
at that an occasional hungiy hog or other animal, eating very largely of such food, 
should become sick or CA'en die. Dogs become very fond of them. One evening I 
watched a bitch catching and eating so many that I expected her to become sick from 
her rich feast of fat things, but she was in no way injured. Indeed, I have uf^v^r sct-n 
any animal injured or otherwise. 
As has been indicated elsewhere, the liking of domestic animals and 
birds, especially the English sparrow, for the cicadas, both in their 
newly emerged condition and in the mature state, is one of the most 
potent influences in exterminating or greatly reducing the abundance 
of this insect in thickly settled districts. 
The use of the newly emerged and succulent cicadas as an article of 
human diet has merely a theoretical interest, because, if for no other 
reason, they occur too rarely to have any real value. There is also 
the much stronger objection in the instinctive repugnance which all 
insects seem to inspire as an article of food to most civilized nations. 
Theoretically, the Cicada, collected at the proper time and suitably 
dressed and served, should be a rather attractive food. The larvae 
have lived solel}^ on vegetable matter of the cleanest and most whole- 
some sort, and supposedly, therefore, would be much more palatable 
and suitable for food than the oyster, with its scavenger habit of 
living in the muddy ooze of river bottoms, or many other animals 
which are highly prized and which have not half so clean a record as 
the periodical Cicada. 
OVIPOSITION AND ITS EFFECT QN THE PLANT. 
The Cicada becomes almost perfectly hardened and mature during 
the first day of its aerial life, and does not wait many dai's before 
beginning the important business of its existence in the perfect stage, 
namely, depositing the eggs for another brood. Courtship occupies 
a ('()ni])arativoly short time, and the sexes are found together usually 
