The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1851-05-17
THE LOCISTS,

is they uiA oPpenr IN Baltimore, and al
the country from Germantoun. Pa,
to the Patapsco rirer IN NaryIand,
md from tie Deiauare rirer to TIE
Blue Ridge, in May, 1851.
BY DR.. GIDEON b. SMITH.
| have been requested by numerous
persons to give to the public the partic-
ulars in relation to the history and hab-
its of this singular insect, some of them
remarking that, if | can predict with so
much certainty the time and places of
their appearance, | can Of course give
them all other facts connected with
them. will endeavor to do so. shall
continue to call this insect the locust,
because it is in universal use; and as we
write to be understood by all readers, it
is proper that we should use sunch Ian
guage as all understand. The scientific
name is cicada septemdecim.
In the whole range Unnatural history
there is nothing more strange than the
act,-which has been established with
as much certainty as any fact in astron-
omy ever was,-that little insect not
as large as the ant shall pass into the
ground and remain there seventeen years
and then emerge in the form of a COM
paratively large insect; or, that certain
tribe of insects shall appear here in i'm
mense numbcrs-numbcrs almost equal
to those of the sands on the sea shore
exactly once in seventeen years, always
in the same month, almost on the same
day and same hour. 1t is indeed Won
derful, but it is nevertheless true. An
other fact, equally strange, is that there
are numerous tribes of these insects. |
have the particulars of twenty-eight dis
tricts in the United States, in each of
which these insects appear every seven
teen years; but each district has a differ
ent year for their appearance from that
of any neighboring district. For exam
pie, the locusts appeared about Rich
mond and east of the Blue Ridge in Vir-
GINA, 1S4'3, and will appear there again
in 1860; while on the west of the Blue
Ridge they appeared in 1874, and will
appear again in 1861. So it is over the
whole Of the United States south of lati-
tude Al deg. north ofwhich have not
yet heard of their appearance. That
they appear throughout the west | have
no doubt, as far as the shores of the Pa
citic. have the fact of their appear
ance at independence, the western limit
of Missouri. In some part of the Amer
lean territory, the appear no doubt every
year. have only been able to get au-
thentic accounts of their appearance in
fourteen out of the seventeen years. The
other three years they appeared in the
western wilds without doubt. But that
the progeny of the same insects that APP
peared here in 1884 will appear here
again in 1851, there is no doubt. They
do not pass from one district to another,
but remain in theirown district. Though
they can fly, their flight is very short;
from tree to tree, some fifty or hundred
yards is about as far as they usually at
tempt to fly. Very high winds frequent
ly drive them TO IA considerable distance,
even over rivers. Rivers and noun
tains are generally boundaries of their
districts. Though they will go pretty
well up the sides of the mountains, they
rarely if ever reach the top, or go over it;
and they cannot fly over river the
eighth of mile wide. Still, the whole
country, now occupied only once in sew
enteen years, will in the course of time
be visited by them every year, in conse-
quence of the mingling of the districts,
by the insects being waited by the winds
from one to another. As before stated,
there are now several places where the
insects ofneighboring districts have COM
mingled, causing their appearance every
eight and nlne years alternately, &c.
Who knows but that other insects re-
quire also number Of years for their ex-