14G THE PERIODICAL CICADA. 
its underground life. It will be necessary, however, except in the first 
year or two of the existence of the larvae, to inject it to a depth of at 
least 12 inches below the surface. It should not be introduced into the 
soil closer to the crown of young plants than 1 \ feet, and not more tlian 
an ounce of the chemical should be introduced into each hole, whicli 
should be immediately closed. An injection should be made to about 
every sc[uare yard of surface. The bisulphid rapidly evaporates and 
penetrates throughout the soil, and is very deadly to insects. It is 
liighly inflammable, and should not, therefore, be poured from one 
vessel to another near a fire. It may be introduced into the soil by 
means of injecting machines. This treatment is not expensive, and 
will be valuable for orchards, small groves, or private grounds. 
THE PERIODICAL CICADA IN LITERATURE. 
As would naturalh" be inferred of an insect as interesting as the 
periodical Cicada, the A\Titings which have been devoted to it from 
the time of its first coming to the attention of the colonists to the 
present have been most voluminous in number and extent; much 
of this literature, however, is of a fugitive character and scattered 
through publications not now obtainable. 
The earliest published account of the periodical Cicada wliich 
has come under my o^\m observation was brought to nw attention 
by Prof. E. A. Andrews, of the Johns Hopkins Universit}^, Baltimore, 
Md. It is contained in Volume I, No. 8, page 137, of the Pliilo- 
sophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, published 
Januar}'' 8, 1666, and is reported, unsigned, by the "publisher," 
Henry Oldenburg. The portion of the communication relating to 
the Cicada is quoted below: 
Some Observations of Swarms of Strange Insects and the Mischiefs Done 
BY Them. 
A great Observer, who liatli lived long in New England, did, upon occasion, relate 
to a Friend of his in London, where he lately was, That some few years since there was 
such a Swarm of a certain sort of Insects in that English Colony, that for the space of 200 
Miles they poyson'd and destroyed all the Trees of the Country'; there being found 
innumerable little holes in the ground, out of which those Insects broke forth in the 
form of Maggots, which turned into Fhjcs that had a kind of tail or sting, which they 
stuck into the tree, aVid thereby envenomed and killed it. * * * 
The rest of the article referred to a plague of locusts (grasshoppers) 
in Russia, with which the Cicada is confused. The brood referred to 
here is very likely Xo. XIV, which appeared in 1651. Xo other 
brood coincides mth this narrative and Xo. XIV not ver}^ closely, 
but as the quotation states the relation was ''upon occasion," and 
was '^some few ^'-ears since," there is ample warrant for assigning 
the account to the brood of fifteen vears before. 
