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104 
ing, that hast neither blood nor flesh, what is there prevents thee 
from being a god ?”’ 
14 It was in virtue of the false ideas of the Greeks on natural 
history in general, and on the Cicada in particular, that this little 
animal symbolized, among the Athenians, nobility of race. They 
i imagined that the Cicada was formed at the expense of the earth, 
, af and in its besom, on which account those who pretended to an | 
1 ancient and high origin, wore in their hair a golden Cicada. The | 
Locrians had on their coins the image of a Cicada. This is the | 
origin which fable assigns to the custom :— 
, The bank of the river upon which Locris was built was covered 
with screeching legions of Cicadas; whereas they were never heard 
(so says the legend) on the opposite bank, on which stood the town _ 
Rhegium. In explanation of this circumstance, they pretended 
that Hercules, wishing one day to sleep on this bank, was so 
tormented by “the sweet eloquence”’ of the Cicada, that, furious 
at their concert, he asked of the gods that they should never sing | 
W/ there more for ever, and his prayer was immediately granted! 
This is why the Locrians adopted the Cicada as the arms of their | 
me city. 
The Greeks did not only delight as poets and musicians in the 
song of the Cicada; they were not content with addressing to it 
he poems, with adoring it and striking medals bearing its image; 
obedient to their grosser appetites, they eat it. They thus satisfied 
| at the same time both the mind, the spirit, and the body. 
The Cicadas are easily to be recognised by their heavy, very 
| robust, and rather thick-set bodies, by their broad head, unpro- | 
| longed, having very large and prominent oce//i, or simple eyes, 
| three in number, arranged in a triangle on the top of the fore- 
head, and short antenne. The young elytra and wings have the | 
shape of a sheath or case enveloping the body. When the insect | 
is at rest, these are transparent and destitute of colour, or 
sometimes adorned with bright and varied hues. The legs | 
are not in the least suited for jumping. The female is provided | 
with an auger with which she makes holes in the bark of trees | 
in which to lay her eggs. The male (Fig. 78) is provided with | 
an organ, not of song, but of stridulation or screeching, which | 
is very rudimentary in the female. We will stop a moment to | 
