The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1885-07-17
SUPERINTENDENT LOCUsTS.
Their visitation this Year-Something o
Their Habits.


Their Habits.
By a careful provision of nature the seven
teen year visitor, when he crawls up to the sur
face through his carefully packed and cemented
hole and comes odt, has dark jacket which
envelops him, and which he ingeniously throws
off after few warm days.
The jacket is great encumbrance, and he
is not a full fedged seventeen year locust,
ready for business, until he gets outside OF 1t.
1t seems that the creatures, in their large. state,
are particularly susceptible to cold and mois-
ture. Accordingly through their seventeen
year sleep, they keep very far under ground,
and as they begin to work their way up and
out of their dark suSterranean retreats moisten
their chamber with something that appears to
make it water proof. Their Anal appearance
is often postponed on account OF the weather.
But in blowing and otherwise many OF them
have been prematurely turned up, and after
getting some sustenance by hanging on to
roots as is their wont they have determined to
ego higher" and have gone up trees. In a few
cases the sun has dried them enough so that
they have been able to split their jackets in the
hack. which they do by gradually tearing
rent with their hind legs. After this Is done
little more, sun foA the drying process enables
the insect to unfold his wings and fly about.
The last "yisitation" in this section, as that is
the word commonly used, was, according to
number Of authorities, IN 1885, and 1t was Prof
C " Riley, the entomologist OF the agricultural
department at Washington, who first announc-
ed that they would surely appear in different
parts Of the country this year. Nearly all the
papers of large belt extending northeas terly
through the state announced their coming.
They have been dug up in nests at Ashland,
found in graves at Westchester, taken out OF
cisterns at Reading, turned up in plow burrows
at Oxford, found stuck in post holes at Wilkes
barre, found in blackbird shot at Lebanon,
and even taken from the craws of chickens
brought to the city.
But the "Cicade Septemdecim," which Is the
name that Linnmus gave it, is not locust at
all. but of the same family as the common mar
vest fly, which is its second cousin. The mys-
terv which has always attended the creature
and its strange pecullarltes has LED TO many
popular errors. Of al the trees III Tue lole'' nj
Cicade Septemdecim likes the oak the best, and
II is a little strange that the monarch OF the
wood should be so assailable by mere nasty
little grub. Still he, or rather she-for it is Mrs
Cicada that does the business-resorts OCCASION
aly to other forest trees and is frequently to be
found even on shrubs. Indeed, there seem TO
he no trees or shrubs that are exempt from their
attacks. except those of the pine and fir tribe,
which thew let severely alone. 1t is Mr. Cicada
Who mai es the havoc. The gentleman OF the
family is a drummer by procession and the lady
strange to say, is boss carpenter. While the
male cicada keeps up tattoo on his drum, the
female, who is said to relish this music amsz-
inely, saws out neat little egg basket. A gen.
teman belonging to the academy of sciences.
who is 30 old that he has seen four successive
crops Of these strange insects, which most OF
the present generation never saw In their lives,
saws that close to the side OF the body OF the
male seventeen-year locust there is little open
ing like pocket, in which is situated little
drum, which is played upon and beaten by
valves, la the hinder part OF the body Of the
other insect is a wonderful implement called q
piercer, which has the combined power OF an
awl and double-edged saw. The end is spear
shaped, and the sides have sharp little teeth.
They bore their hole obliquely in the pith OF the
tree, at an angle OF forty-fve degrees, and de-
post their eggs in pairs, separated by little
wooden partition. 1t takes about fifteen min
utes to prepare one of these nests and fill 1t with
Pegs but It Is not unusual for one insect to
make ferty or fifty assures in the same limo.
She goes thus from limb to limb and from tree
10 tree until her store OF from four to tve thou
sand eggs Is exhausted. Then sne nes down
and dies. According to most authorizes IN
fifty two days, though some say forty-two, the
Young insect is Matched out and is yellow |
white grub, which, with an infalibe instinct. |
ike that which takes the duck to the water, |
drops to the earth and burrows, no matter from
what height "This insect" said Prof Joseph |
Leidy, the eminent scientist, sis not locust. |
The locust of the Bible is our common grass.
hopper. This grub appears in different parts OF
he country every year, but it takes 1t seventeen
vears to develop in any one place. Some years |
I covers larger territory than others. 1t does
lot eat the leaves. In fact in its perfect state
eats nothing. Its only mission is reproduc
ion. Before it comes up it sucks the roots oil |
rees. 1t Injuries trees by the female boring them
o deposit her eggs. All the bored iimps anu
branches soon drop '-[Philadelphia Press. |