1923 ] Notes on the Cape Cod Brood of Periodical Cicada 203 
NOTES ON THE CAPE COD BROOD OF PERIODICAL 
CICADA DURING 1923. 
By Donald S. Lacroix. 
Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. 
The Cape Cod brood of Tibicen septendecim L. has been 
one watched with great interest since the early colonial days of 
Massachusetts, and it was during those days that it first came 
to the attention of the colonists who were then settling in and 
around Plymouth. 
Early this year (1923) Dr. H. T. Fernald of the Massachu- 
setts Agricultural College called my attention to the fact that 
the Periodical Cicada was due to appear on the Cape this season, 
and he asked me to observe the brood, to get some idea of its 
range and abundance. 
The first record I obtained was on June 13th when Dr. H. 
J. Franklin of the Cranberry Experiment Station at East Ware- 
ham, gave me several specimens of T. septendecim which had 
been given to him the day before. The gentleman who brought 
them in said that he found them in abundance near Pocasset, 
Mass., in the town of Bourne. 
On June 15th I went to that territory and struck into the 
woods for a distance of a half mile when I came into the infested 
area. This was one mile east of Monument Beach (a part of 
Bourne). It may be interesting to note at this point that part 
of this territory had been burned over by a tremendous forest 
fire on May 23rd-26th (inclusive), 1923, and that the brood 
appeared first in the burned area. On reaching this territory I 
met Mr. Lumbert who owns a considerable amount of land 
there. He told me that the Cicadas had been out for about two 
weeks (making the first appearance on or about June 1st). 
Examination of the burned area showed ^ ^chimneys” all over the 
ground, some of them partially charred, indicating that they 
had probably been constructed prior to the invasion of the forest 
fire. In many cases the chimneys were very numerous, one to a 
square foot of ground where they were thickest. 
