FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE ADULTS. 130 
icaniis (Linn.); black-bilUnl cvickoo. ('. (•n/tlir(>{)liflmliiiiitt (^Wilson); Amorican ^'old- 
fmch, AstriKjalinns (ristis (lAwu.); crow, ('onus brdcliifrfn/urhos lircliin. and «c(lar 
bird. Ainpclis ccdroruni (Vioill.^. 
But two specimens (»f all the hirds exaniinetl showetl no evidence ol" cicada caiini:. 
These were the cerulean warbler. Dcndroica cerulca (Wilson), and the warhlini: \ ireo, 
Viirosi/Irn (jilva (Vieill.V Most birds eat oidy the softer parts, but some sj)ecies ilie 
robin, brown thrasluM-. towhee. and a lew otiiers — eat also the winji;s and leii;.>^. and 
even occasionally the head. 
I found fox ."^ciuirrels, Sciunis nijirenler Geoffroy, eatin<4: llicni. ihc Noun-^ .--hiiu inix 
i^rt>at(M- fondness for this food than did their parents. The ground scjuirrel, or ( hip- 
munk, Taiiiias striatus Baircl, was very fond of them. I have seen this mannind 
climb to the highest limbs of an apple tree seeking cicadas. 
\\ hen cicadas fell into our streams many of them became the prey of various species 
of lish. Our fishermen complained of their inal)ility to get fish to take the IkmiI^ while 
they were feeding upon this new food. The remains of this insect were found in l)l;i( k 
ba.-^s. }fl(ropten(s salmaides JlenshdW; blue catfish, Ichthxlurus punctatus Jordan, and 
white sucker, Catostonuis teres Le S. 
Rev. D. R. Moore, a vaUied fellow-work(M-, found two species of snails, Mesodon 
exoleta Rinn., and M. ehvata Say, feeding upon dead Cicadas. This fact was a great 
surprise to me. But few instances were recorded of digger wasps killing those insects. 
Stizits grandis Say « was the only species observed. Aside from the enemies men- 
tioned above, there were many others to which I could not direct my attention. In 
general, it may be said that beetles, spiders, and other insect enemies prey upon them 
incessantly, while parasitic flies, scavenger beetles, and ants destroy great nimibers of 
their dead bodies. 
THE FUNGOUS DISEASE OF THE ADULTS. 
Tlio peculiar fungous disease of the adult cicadas was noticed by 
Dr. Joseph Leidy in the Proceedings of the Philadel])hia Academy of 
Sciences for 1851, page 235, and has since been described as Mas- 
sospora cicadina by Prof. C. H. Peck.^ Mr. W. T. Hartman, of 
West Chester, Pa., speaking of the occurrence of this fungus in 1851, 
says: 
The posterior part of the abdomen in a large number of male locusts was filled l>y a 
greenish fungus. * * "^ The abdomen of the infected males was usually inflated, 
dry, and brittle, and totally dead wdiile the insect was yet flying about. Upon break- 
ing off the hind ])art of the abdomen, the dust-like spores would fly as from a small 
puff hall. 
One jiiale specimen, received in 1868 from Pennsylvania, was 
affected by the same or a similar fungus, the internal parts of the 
abdomen being converted into what appeared to be a brown mold. 
K. II. Warder, of Cleves, Ohio, in speaking of this mold, says: 
1 found that in many '-ases the male organs of generation remained so liiinlN' atiachcd 
to the female during copulation that the male could only disengage himself by break- 
ing away and leaving oni^ or two posterior joints attached to the female, and it is these 
mutilated males which 1 found affected by the peculiar fungus mentioned, and there- 
fore conclude that the dry rot might l)e the result of the broken membranes. 
o Synonymous with Sphecins spedosvs Drury. 
b Thirty-hi.-t Kept. X. Y. State Museum Xal. Hist., 1S7!), ]>. II. 
