The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1885-07-18
LOCUST LEARNING.
Curious Information About tho
Cicada Septondoclm
An Interesting snd Instructive Chapter IN
the Dreaded Locust. Furnished by The
Intomologisi 81 tho Agrlcult.
ural Hurrau.

Prof Riley. Entomologist Of the Va.
tional Bureau Of Agriculture recently
prepared q bulletin on the Periodical
Ceaia' The following extract. from
the advance proof sheets Of the inter.
esiing pamphlet are taken from Wash.
ington special TO the Cleveland Piaii
Doalrr;
The meiamorphoscs Of insects. their
Instructive industry. their quarrel. and
their instincts afford abundant food for
our love Of the marvellous. but few
species can claim such q singular his.
tory a. q our periodical cicada We
ar moved to admiration In contcm.
plating the fact that an insect, after liv.
Ing for nearly seventeen year. IN the
bowels Of the earth. should at last
ascend from IL earthly retreat, change
Its sluggish. creeping and wingle,s form.
aud. endowed with the power Of nipht.
become a denizen Of the air and enjoy
the full glory OF the sun. But our won.
der increases when We reflect that mi.
same insect has appeared in some par,
or other OF the United States at regular
Intervals OF seventeen year, for cent.
nries. aye. for ages, in the past! Long
ere Columbus lrod American soil MI,
lowly insect must have appeared rcpl.
larry at It's appointed time. Il must
have filled the woods with is raltllng
song when non but wild beast, and
savages were present to hear II. 10
me there Is something pleasant in tho
idea that through is pcrlodicity We ara
enabled with tolcrable certainty To On
back, in thought, for centuries In the
past, to n particular month ola particu.
lar year or even 10 a given day. when
the woods rcsounded with lis song In
The same manner as they did in 1855. or
VIII the present year.
III was my good fortune to discover
that besides the seyenteen-year brood..
the appearance Of one Of VIII Oh VA. r..
corded rs long as 1888, there arc also
~thirteen-year broods: and that. thougb
both sometimes occur in the same
States, yet In general terms the seycn.
icen-year broods may be said to belong
y The Northern and the thirteen. wear
broods 20 the Southern States. the dT,id.
ing line being about latitude IS degr,c.
though In some places the seventeen.
year broods extend below this line wbiIe
IN Illinois the ihirieen.year broods run
up considerably beyond il.
ut So happened that one of the larccs,
seventeen. year broods, together wi,b
one oil the largest thirteen YEAR brood.
appeared simultaneously In the summ,r
OF 1868. Such an event, so far "a -.
CARDS these two particular broods. had
not taken place since the ear lgl5
MOI VIII 1t take place again tn tho year
There are absolutely no pcrcentiblc
SPECIFIC differences between the seyen-
teen-year and the thirteen.ycar broods.
other than in the timo Of maturing bni
while the insects forming these two
classes OF broods arc not spccidcallv
distinct they are good and dis,lnc,
races which do not cross. and / h,yn
therefore. for convenience SAKE nawot
decim- ~ wv
ut Is not a little singular. also. thu,
wodistinctf forms occur In both race
alargc one and a small one-the forn,or
ibny lar more numerous than the la,,nr
This fact has been observed In w.,
years aud was noticed In 1868 by indie.
pendent observers In difiercn, paris q,
the country. Indeed. Il was obserycd
by Ut Hildreth. of Marietta. O.. n far
back as 1880. The true clcada sen,en,
decim OF Linneus occur In the prpate.t
numbers, both in seventeen ana thir
teen-year broods Il will measure. ON
an average, ono and one-half inches
rom the head TO the tip Of the closed
wings, and almost always expands over
three inches. The whole under slde ~
the abdomen Is Of a duh oranye.b rown
color, and. In the male, more e~speciallv
ionr o. i've Of the segments are edged
WIN The same color on the back.
line other form is not on an ayerage
much more than two-thirds as larSc
and usually lacks entirely tho dnli
orange abdominal marks, though there
Is sometimes a faint trace of them on
the edges Of the segment. beneath.
The large form has been observed IN
make Us appearances from eight TO ten
aays earlier from the small form. and
thfre n mol a eiDg1o snaci.o., "a IL