110 THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
inserted in the portion of the fissure first made, the ovipositor is 
withdrawn and again inserted, and two more eg<rs are phiced in line 
witli the first; this operation bein<( continued until the egg nest is 
filled. A step or two forward is then taken, and after a brief pause 
a new egg nest is begun. About fifteen minutes is occupied in pre- 
paring and fdling one of these nests with eggs. 
The above account is substantially correct so far as the supei-ficial 
appearances are concerned. Instead, however, of first making an egg 
nest and afterwards filling it with eggs in pairs, as described, the female 
deposits the row of eggs on one side as she makes the original cutting 
in the bark. She then moves back, and, swinging a little to one side, 
inserts through the same hole the second row of eggs parallel with the 
first, thus leaving a small bit of undisturbed wood fiber between the 
two rows of eggs. Tliis method of inserting the eggs corresponds to 
that known to be true of allied insects which deposit their eggs in prac- 
tically the same manner, and is confirmed also by the careful observa- 
tions made b}^ Mr. Ira H. Lawton, of Xyack, X. Y., in 1S94, and 
reported by Professor Lintner." ^Ir. Lawton found that the placing 
of each row of eggs occupied a little over twenty minutes, or, for the 
construction and filling of the double egg nest, some forty-five minutes. 
During the cutting of the fissure the ovipositor made about eighty 
strokes per minute, and after four chambers were made the female 
would indulge in a short rest. 
The number of nests made in a single twig varies from four or -Rve to 
fifteen or twenty, the latter number being not at all unusual, and as 
many as fifty egg nests in a line, each containing fourteen to twenty 
eggs, have been found in a single limb. The punctures are often 
made so close to each other that they sometimes run together, so as to 
form a continuous slit for 2 or 3 inches. 
The Cicada passes from one limb or from one tree to another until 
she has exhausted her store of eggs, which have been estimated to 
number from four to six hundrecL ^J the time the egg-laying is com- 
pleted the female becomes so weak from her incessant labor that she 
falls to the ground and perishes or soon becomes a ^dctiin to her various 
natural enemies. 
THE GROWTH AND HATCHING OF THE EGGS. 
The eggs remain in tlie twigs for six or seven weeks after bemg 
deposited. Professor Potter was one of the first to determine this 
rather unusually long egg period b}^ marking certain egg clusters and 
watching them until the 3^oung larvse were disclosed. He reports that 
from eggs deposited on the 5th of June he witnessed the hatching of 
the young on the 28th of Jul}'. This statement is also corroborated by 
a Twelfth Report Insects New York, p. 275. 
