"52 [Assembly 
The two outer anastomosing veinlets of the fore wings are black, with only a slender 
orange line along their middle, and are margined with smoky, forming a W-shaped 
mark, which superstition to this day, continues to a slight extent, to regard as por- 
tending “ war.” The small opake orange basal cell is black on its inner side, and 
the elevated vein running from the outer side of this cell to the base of the wing is 
also deep black, with a large black spot behind and a small one before its basal ex¬ 
tremity, as seen when the wings are spread. The folded inner part of the hind wings 
is margined with smoky, and on its apical side with black. 
Characters drawn from the veins of the wings, by which to discriminate the species, 
would appear from this insect to be of little value. Thus, the first or outermost 
veinlet, or cross-vein as it is termed by Mr. Walker, is separated from the second 
veinlet about the distance of its length in the male, but often by double this distance 
in the female. The second veinlet is slightly curved in the male, whilst in the female 
it is straight, with a slight curve towards its inner end, and in one specimen before 
me it is abruptly bent, forming an angle of less than 135 degrees. It is of the same 
length with the first veinlet commonly, but is sometimes much longer. 
It would be interesting to carefully study over a large collec¬ 
tion of specimens of the seventeen-year locust, belonging to sepa¬ 
rate broods of this insect, and gathered from different localities, to 
ascertain if some marks cannot be detected by which the individu¬ 
als belonging to each brood can be discriminated from the others. 
When newly hatched from the pupa, the locust is soft, heavy, 
and sluggish in its motions. At this time, as I am informed by 
Mr. Kennicott, it is preyed upon by our large species of dragon¬ 
flies or darning-needles ( Libellulidce )., which seize and devour 
numbers of them. 
Mr. W. S. Robertson informs me, that the Indians make the 
different species of Cicada an article of diet, every year gathering 
quantities of them, and preparing them for the table by roasting 
them in a hot oven, stirring them until they are well browned. & 
Accounts of persons having been stung by the seventeen-year 
locust, and dying in consequence of the wound, are current in 
different sections of our country, every time this insect makes its 
appearance. The past summer, a newspaper article gave the 
name, residence, and particulars of the death of a young lady in 
Illinois, who was thus stung, stating the attending circumstances 
so definitely as to leave no doubt that the story u f as authentic. 
And it is possible that the sharp beak of this insect, or the ovi¬ 
positor of the female, may inflict a puncture so extremely painful 
