The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-05-30

me Seventeen-Year Locusts.-This be-
ing locust year, something on the subject of
these visitors, who only come to see us once in
seventeen years, may prove interesting, especially
to young people. Prof William Saunders, who
wrote very interesting volume on "Insects," fur
nishes the following information on "The Seven
teen Year Locusts p
"Ihe seventeen year locust is an insect very
well known throughout the United States, and is
sometimes met with in Canada. As its name i'm
Plies, 1t generally requires seventeen years in
WHOM TO complete its transformation, nearly the
whole OF this period being spent under ground.
Ihe perfect insect measures, when its wings
are expanded, from two and half to three inches
across. The body is stout and blackish, the wings
transparent, the thick anterior edge and large
veins are orange red, and near the front margin,
towards the tip, there is dusky, zigzag line re-
sembling w. The rings of the abdomen are
edged with dull orange, and the legs are of the
same hue. The locusts appear in the South earlier
than in the North their usual time is during the
latter part of May, and they disappear early in
July.
CATER pairing, the female deposits her eggs in
the twigs of different trees, puncturing and saw
ing small Sits in them, which she does by means
of her sharp beak, which is composed of three por
tions the two outer are beset with small teeth
like saw, while the centre one is spear pointed
piercer. In these Sits she places her eggs. They
are of pearly-white color, one-twefth of an inch
long, and taper to an obtuse point at each end
They are deposited in pairs, side by side, with a
portion of the woody fibre between them, and
placed in the cavity somewhat obiquely, SO that
one end points upwards. When two eggs have
thus been deposited, the insect withdraws her
piercer for moment, and then inserts it again and
drops two more eggs in line with the first and
SO on until she has filled the slit from one end to
the other. She then removes to little distance
and makes another similar nest 1t is not uncom-
mon to find from fifteen to twenty such assures in
the same limb. The cicada thus passes from limb
to limb and from tree to tree until her store of four
or five hundred eggs is exhausted, when, worn out
by her excessive labors, she dies. The punctured
twigs are so weakened by the operations of the
insect that they frequently break off when swayed
by rough winds, and the injury thus caused to
young fruit-trees in orchards nurseries is
times very serious; in most instances however, if
the trees are vigorous, they eventually recover
from their wounds.
"The eggs hatch in about six weeks or less, the
young larvae being of yelowish- color. 1t
is active and rapid in its movements, and shortly
after its escape from the egg drops to the ground,
and Immediately proceeds to bury itself in the soil
by means of its broad and strong fore feet, which
admirably adapted for digging. Once under
the surface, these larvae attach themselves to the
succulent roots of plants and trees, and, punctur
ing them with their beaks, imbibe the vegetable
juices, which form their sole nourishment. They
do not usually descend very deeply into the
ground, but remain where juicy roots most
abundant, and the only marked alteration to which
they are subject during the long period Of their
existence under ground is gradual increasen size.
GAS the time for their transformation approaches,
they ascend towards the surface, making cylindri-
cal burrows about five Fights of an inch in dame
ter, seldom exactly perpendicular, and these are
firmly cemented and vanished so as to be water
tight. AS the insect progresses the chamber is
filled below by the earthly matter removed in its
progress, but the upper portion, to the extent OF
six eight inches, is empty, and serves as
dwelling place for the insect until the period of its
exit arrives. Here it remains for some days, as
cending to the top of the hole in fine weather for
warmth and air, and occasionally looking out as
if to reconnoitre, but descending again on the
currence of cold or wet weather. In localities
that are low or imperfectly drained, the insects
sometimes continue their galleries from four to six
inches above ground, leaving place Of egress at
the surface, and in the upper end of these dry
chambers the pup@ patiently await the time for
their next change.
"This period, although an active one, is the
pupa stage of the insects existence, and finally,
when fully matured, they issue from the ground,
crawl up the trunk of tree or any other object to
which they may attach themselves securely by
their claws, and, having rested awhile prepare to
cast their skins. After some struggling longi-
tudinal rent is made on the back, and through
this the enclosed cicada pushes its head, and then
gradually withdraws itself, leaving the empty
pupa skin adhering. The escape from the pupa
usually occurs between six and nine in the
evening, and about ten minutes are occupied by
the insect in actively freeing itself from the en-
closure. At first the body is soft and white, ex-
cepting black patch on the back, and the wings
are small and soft, but within an hour fully de-
veoped, and before morning the mature insects
are ready for flight. They sometimes issue from
the ground in immense numbers; above fifteen
hundred have been known to arise beneath
single apple-tree, and in some places the whole
surface of the soil has, by their operations, ap-
peared almost as full of holes as a honey-comb."