THE CIGALA , 
377 
the dead or dried branches, in holes which they bore by means of 
a very curious ovipositor, which is something like that of the saw 
flies. They make little slits upon the branches, and drop an egg 
into each one of them. 
The metamorphoses of the Cigala are rather more advanced 
than those of the Hemiptera , and are like those of the dragon 
flies. As soon as the larvae are born — and they look very much 
THE Nepiace. 
like fleas in the first instance — they descend the tree and hide 
themselves in the earth, and suck the roots in their neighbour- 
hood. They are furnished with spiny legs and large and strong 
thighs, and these are capital instruments for digging. The 
nymphs crawl out of the earth and live upon the trunks of trees, 
or on the plants close by. After remaining perfectly quiet as 
nymphs for a short time only, their skin cracks down the back, 
and the perfect insect leaves its covering and takes flight. The 
Cigala of the ash and of the elm are common in the south of 
maBm 
