Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-02-04
A SWARM OF LOOUsTs.
Prof. Rileyss Prediction for the
Coming Summer.
Washington Post.


This is to be good year for the
locusts. In the Southern States thew
will be particularly abundant. and il il
more than probable that the woods in
Maryland, Virginia and the District OF
Columbia will resound with their rat.
ting song. This will be unwelcomo
news to the farmers and florists who
know, from sad experience, the destruc-
tive character of these insects.
There are two broods of the locust
said Prof. Riley yesterday to the Post
reporter who called upon him for In.
formation: lone appears every thirteen
years, and the other every seventeen
years. BY coincidence both breeds
are to appear together this year, but not
in the same places"
''In what localities ?"
The seventeen-year locusts will ba
particularly plentiful in Marquette and
Green Lake counties, in Wisconsin, and
may also appear in the western part Of
North Carolina, in Northeast Ohio, and
a few IN Lancaster county, Pa, and
Westchester county, New ! ork. They
will also be abundant in the neighbor-
hood of Wheeling, and will probably ex-
tend down into Maryland, Virginia, and
the district. OF this, however, am not
quite sure. The thirteen-yea brood
will. in all probability, appear in South
ern Illinois, throughout Missouri. with
the exception of the northwestern cor
ner, in Louisiana, Arkansas, Indian Ter
ritoFy, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missis-
sippi, AlGbama, Georgia, and North and
South Carolina. Observations extend
ing for more than two hundred
years prove that they never fail.
The earliest appearance of the
periodical cicada or locust. so
far as we have any record, occurred at
Plymouth, Mass, in the year 1884.
Each seventeen years they have appeared
again without fail. The naturalist cal.
culates as confidently on the future ap-
pearance of the locust in a given month
in given year, for all time to come. as
the astronomer does an eclipse or a
transit on some particular day; and he
may go back in time when none but
savage men dwelt on this continent and
feel confident that the woods of New
Jersey ratified with the hoarse cry of this
insect IN the month of June, seven years
after the birth of Christ, Just as they
did in June, 1877"
Where. does the locust reside, SO to
speak, during his absence from the face
of the earth 2"
''He is then under the earth. in the
shape of a worm, living on the sap of
young rootlets. In following these.
they penetrate very deep into the ground.
sometimes going as far down as ten or
twelve feet The season for their an.
pearance and disappearance differs some
what with tho lofffndA
materially as one might suppose. They
appear little earlier in the South than
in the North, but the last half of May
can be set down as the period during
which they emerge from the ground in
many parts of the country, which they
generally leave by the 4th of July. As
is the case with a great many other in
sects the males make their appearance
several days before the females, and also
disappear sooner. Hence, in the latter
part of the cicada season, though the
woods are still fu of females, the song
of but very few males will be heard"
''Do not the females sing ?"
"No, the musical organs are possessed
only by the males. This fact was en-
bodied in an ancient rhyme;
Happy the cicada's lives,
For they all have voiceless wives"
How is the music produced 3''
"The rafting noise is produced BY
system of muscles in the lower part of
the body, which work on the drums un-
der the wings, by alternately tightening
and loosening them"
care not they capable of doing an
immense amount of damage ?''
Yes, sir. They have destroy ed whole
apple Orchards and vineyards. The
worst of it is that there is no way to get
rid them, when they make their appear.
ance in large numbers and have attained
full size ard pow wers of fight. The only
possible method is to allow poultry and
hogs to devour them just after they
come up out of the ground and are in a
helpless condition.
There is good deal of superstition.
remarked the reporter, "about the w ON
their wings"
81 have noticed that" Prof. Riley
answered. "Some ignorant persons are
silly enough to believe that it portends
war. 1t occurs alike, though not in
such a marked degree, on all other
cicadas, and if people must have an
omen let them rather take the two WIS
for warm weather, and it will not be
likely to disappoint them"