







HEMIPTERA. 
M. Merian gives a figure and account of the metamorphofe of a cicada found in Surinam. She has 
miftaken the winged infeé to be only the pupa of the Fu/gora Lanternaria, which is too abfurd to deferve 
contradiction ; in other refpeéts her account is interefting, and particularly that part which relates to the 
pupa ftate, or chafer, as itis termed. “ The pomegranate tree,” fays Merian, “ fo well known in all 
other countries, grows alfo in the fields of Surinam. On them I have found a fpecies of chafer, which is 
naturally very lazy, and confequently very eafy to be caught. It carries underneath the head a long trunk, 
with which it eafily penetrates the tlowers, in order to extract the honey from them. On the 20th of May, 
when they were laying quite quiet, the {kin of the back burtt open, and green flies, with tranfparent wings, 
iffued from them. Thefe flies are found in abundance in Surinam, and have fuch a rapid flight, that it 
took me many hours to catch one.” 
The pupa we received from China with our Cicada atrata, very much refembles that figured by Merian. 
It has the long fucking trunk or probofcis; but the moft formidable of its weapons feem to be the fore feet, 
which are thick, ftrong, and armed with {pines or teeth; with thefe it may do more injury to the plants, 
by tearing off the tender fhoots, than by wounding the trunk to extract the moifture. 
We have reprefented the upper and under fide of a male of this interefting fpecies, Cicada atrata, not 
only to illuftrate our preceding remarks, but becaufe we believe no figure has been given of it by any 
author, unlefs De Zwarte Chineefche cicade* of Stohl is intended for-this infect. The Fabrician defcription 
has no fynonyms. 
The general appearance of both fexes of Cicada atrata is very fimilar, except that the female is fur- 
nifhed with a fheath, and the male with lamellz. The fheath of the female is partly concealed within a 
valve at the extremity of the abdomen, and is only protruded when the creature lays her eggs. In the 
figure of the under furface of a male infeé, exhibited in the annexed plate, the lamelle are diftinguifhed 
by two ftars: the fingle ftar denotes the fituation of the fpine, mentioned by Roefel and Reaumur. 
Laurus Camphora.—Camphor-tree. 
The tree which produces the ufeful drug camphor is very abundant in Japan and China. Sir G. 
Staunton fays it is the only {pecies of the laurel genus growing in China, where it is a large and valuable 
timber, and is never cut up for the fake of the drug; but that fubftance is obtained by decoéting the fmall 
branches, twigs, and leaves, and fubliming the camphor in luted earthen yeffels. A purer fort is brought 
from the ifland of Borneo and Japan, which is fuppofed to be a natural exudation from the tree when the 
bark is wounded, Sir G. Staunton fays the Camphor-tree is felled in thofe countries for the fole purpofe of 
finding the drug in fubftance among the {plinters. 
% La Cigale Chinoife noire, pres de Canton en Chine. Cab. de Monf. L. F. Holthufen, pl. 20. fig. 118. 
