HOUSE AND GARDEN 
430 
J 
UNE, I9II 
years, seem trivial 
enough.” 
Dr. G. B. Smith, 
referring to their 
song, writes: 
“The music or song 
produced by the myr¬ 
iads of these insects 
is wonderful, to 
some people it be¬ 
comes monotonous, 
to me it is otherwise, 
and when I heard 
the last note on June 
25 the melancholy 
reflection occurred— 
‘Shall I live to hear 
it again ?’ ” 
Many broods that 
formerly occupied 
vast areas have al¬ 
most entirely disappeared due to the clearing up of forests that 
constituted their breeding grounds; nevertheless they have suc¬ 
ceeded in so distributing themselves that they are as abundant as 
ever and due to appear this summer in unlimited numbers. 
No insect presents in its life history so much that is anomalous 
and interesting as the Cicada, and the nature student will find it a 
wide field for interesting research. There is no doubt but that 
the many broods scat¬ 
tered all over the United 
States were compre¬ 
hended in a single brood 
in the past ages, and with 
the geographic, climatic 
and topographic changes 
that have occurred, they 
have become widely 
scattered, forming dis¬ 
tinct broods that have 
been recorded from time 
to time. 
It would be uninter¬ 
esting to the reader to 
give a description of the 
different broods scat¬ 
tered over the country, 
as the phenomena is 
practically the same with 
all broods, so that, leav¬ 
ing their classification to 
those inclined, we will 
rather give a description 
of the life and habits of 
these insects that are 
sure to command our at¬ 
tention the present sum¬ 
mer. 
These insects, general¬ 
ly speaking, emerge 
from the ground during 
the last week in May, 
though there may be a 
slight variation in this, 
due to local conditions, 
but this is approximate¬ 
ly the time, and usually 
by the first week in July 
they have disappeared 
almost entirely. 
The males disap¬ 
pear several days 
before the females, 
and we frequently 
see myriads of fe¬ 
rn a 1 e s ovipositing 
their eggs after the 
song of the males 
has been hushed 
for several days. 
A remarkable 
thing about the Ci¬ 
cadas is that though 
they emerge in 
countless numbers 
and mature at al¬ 
most the same mo¬ 
ment, yet in their 
underground life 
they are not in con¬ 
tact with each other, but each in its individual cave in the earth 
and apparently oblivious to the presence of others; and yet with 
the precision of a clock they all emerge at the end of the appointed 
time as if by some communicable impulse. 
As the pupa burrows upward it leaves a small hole in the sur¬ 
face of the earth about the size of a little finger, and thousands 
of these holes will show just where the brood had been. 
If we had dug down 
into the ground during 
the early part of April 
last we would have found 
them very near the sur¬ 
face of the earth, all 
ready for their emerg¬ 
ence later on. 
One remarkable phase 
of the life of the Cicada 
is seen in the fact that 
under certain conditions 
they will construct little 
huts and cones of earth 
that will project above 
the surface of the 
ground as high as five 
inches. Millions of these 
little cones will be spread 
over the surrounding 
territory. If these cones 
are approached cautious¬ 
ly, and broken off near 
the top, the pupa will he 
found waiting for the 
time of emergence. 
There have been many 
reasons advanced for the 
building of these little 
huts, but the most plausi¬ 
ble theory seems to be 
that they are built as an 
abode to avoid unusual 
dampness, and when we 
find that in the majority 
of cases they are built 
where the soil is un¬ 
usually moist, this would 
seem to confirm this 
view. W h e t h e r from 
Particularly in damp localities will the Cicadas erect these curious mounds in which they 
await the hour of emergence 
A remarkable picture showing the Cicada leaving his skin. This happens soon 
after the insects leave the ground, usually between nine and midnight. 
