
GREAT BLACK, OR MANNA CICADA. 63 
ascending the trees until some dry twig is reached, in which they 
cut grooves with the cylindrical borer at the hinder extremity of - 
the abdomen; and in each groove they deposit a few eggs, The 
young, at first, resemble fleas in size and shape; they quickly reach 
the ground, into which they burrow, and whence they may be dug 
out at the roots of trees any time during the larval and pupa states, 
The larva is white, and seems to feed on underground roots. The 
pup, which might be mistaken for a kind of beetle of a dull brown 
colour, ultimately come out of the ground by aid of strong claws on 
the fore legs, and crawl up a few feet on the trunk of the nearest 
gum-tree in the night prior to transformation ; and then, splitting 
along the back, the surprisingly larger, winged, perfect insect 
creeps out, leaving the empty pupa skin clinging to the tree quite 
perfect, even to the smallest hair or other part, and in the position 
of life. The abandoned pupa skin shows the form of the eyes, six 
legs, and the antennz ; but chiefly differs from the perfect insect in 
colour, and in having the impress of only rudimentary wings at the 
sides of the body. The cicada piercing the young twigs of the 
peppermint gum-tree causes an abundant exudation of sap, which, 
drying in the hot, parched air, leaves the sugary solid remains in a. 
gradually increasing lump, which ultimately falls off,.covering the 
ground with a sort of white sweet manna in little irregular masses. 
This is the ‘‘Melitose” of chemists, and contains the peculiar 
material ‘* Kucalin,” known only in the sap of eucalypti; it is an 
unfermentable sugar. Both sexes of cicadw have short lives in the 
perfect state, and may be seen lying about the ground under the 
trees, dead or dying, in abundance after their noisiest days. The 
nankeen kestrel and other small hawks devour them on the wing in 
reat numbers in their season, and even sparrows attack them. 
Cicadee appear in myriads about Feb., the black species being far 
more numerous than the green. By March these insects are 
materially diminished in numbers, and by the end of that month all 
the year’s generation have passed away. 
Food.—The sap of trees, particularly that of the peppermint 
gum, which the perfect insect chiefly frequents, probably from the 
remarkable sweetness of the sap. 
Where found.—Australia is particularly rich in cicadidw; it 
probably possesses a greater number of that family than any other 
division of the globe. ‘The cicada is met with throughout New 
South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, and extending south to 
Tasmania. A writer on Australia remarks :-—‘‘ In the tree-tops the 
cicadas vociferously chanted the praises of summer.” Near Sydney 
the first cicada is heard about the 28th of Oct., and before the end 
of November they are numerous. 
