The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-09-13
FOR SEVENTEEN TEARS.
locusrs BURRow thai LONG, BuT
HAVE ONE LONG GAY SEASON.


widowed Early. Don't iiae Away.
but Get Right Down to Bgsincs-.
The seventeen year locusts pass seven
teen years under ground. and then, as if
BY preconcertcd arrangement. make
their appearance ont of little holes al
most simultaneously. and in numbers
that run far up into the millions. This
is always done after sunset. and by 9
| o'clock the same night tie hordes have
appeared They are not very active
when they first appear out Of their sub
terranean homes, but they make what
speed they can toward the nearest trees.
and climb them to the lower leaves,
| where they fairly swarm, sometimes as
| many as thirteen pup,e clinsins TO one
| ok leaf. Those which are belated either
/ cling to the bark Of the tree or-if too
| late to get that far--fasten their claws to
the first convenient object. and wait for
the grand transformation which IS to
convert them from ugly crawling things
of silence and gloom into gorgeous things
of the air aud the sunlight, the males
endowed with musical powers, and both
sexes clad in gay suits OF orange and
/ black, with gossamer wings of iridescent
hues But u few minutes elapse after
the pupas have secured a resting place
before the dull skins begin to crack along
the back
COMING WITH DRUMS.
Then the imprisoned cicada works his
4 81
thing, but quickly developing wings and
becoming hard and active. For the most
part it does not require more than TWEEN
| ty minutes for the soft prisoner to be-
come d perfect cicada, though sometimes
an hour or moro is consumed in the pro-
cess. and several hours are required to
produce the final color The males are
the first by several days to appear, and
they herald the first dawn of their new
existence By trying their drums; for
| their musical apparatus is in effect drum
like. At first their music is rather feeble,
but in Il little while it secures the proper
tone and force, and then it scarcely
knows any rest. Nor do they drum at
haphazard, but rather in unison, and so
it is that the noise of the swarnls can be
heard fully a mile away, and is positive
ly deafening when close at hand.
The male cicada cats very little while
waiting for the female to appear. and
| that little IS In the form Of sap from the
trees, the bark OF which is slightly
punctured for the juice to exude. The
| coming Of the females is hailed By the
| waiting lords with an increased noise,
and for few days the air IS thick with
| the flying insects, 50 much SO that the
sun is obscurcd for small areas In a few
days after this the males die gradually,
and the females busy themselves with
the task of egg laying Each female
will lay in the ncighbogbood Of 800 eggs,
and the manner in which she lays them
is really remarkable. she selects young
twigs only, and, with a singular appa-
ratus, called an oyipositor, bores holes IN
regular order along the under side of the
twigs, into which the eggs are regularly
and carefully placed Each nest con
tains about twenty eggs. The ovipositor
| is 4 most ingenious continuance, and IS
composed Of three parts, one part being
an awl with which to pierce, and two
parts being opposing saws with which to
cut. And after the nest las been cut
out Of the tuig the ovipositor acts as a
tube, down which the egg is propelled
into its place in the nest
TWENTY FEET UNDER GROUND
After the cicada has laid all her eggs
she loses her strength and die She has
lived a dreary underground existence cf
seventeen years. to enjoy 4 brief life o!
few weeks in the air and sunshine
| And now the new brood is started on a
seventeen years of life The eggs hatch
in about six weeks, and the baby eieada
is about one-sixteenth of an inch long and
very active, though 50 light that it falls
| to the ground from a height sometimes
Of 100 feet without the least injury. It
has pair Of strong claws with which II
dig a hole in the ground, and it puts
them into use Immediately. Down it
goes into the earth, and for seventeen
| years burrows and burrows, sometimes
going as deep as twenty feet, and some
| times not one-quarter C. that, but chang
ing its skin twenty-five or thirty times
during its Underground travels It lives
on the juices extracted from roots, and
sometimes. bat not often, Injuries trees.
When the time for It's temperance
on earth comes near again il gradually
works its way toward the surface, it
finally digs a tunnel upward to the sur
face, going up occasionally to peer about
and discover by signs known to itself
when the Goth Of May has come Ii the
soil is marshy where it has elected to
appear, or if heavy rains are prevailing
at the time. it has been known to build
a turret six inches above ground, with q
rooted cap, 50 curved that it can 70 up
into it and be in safety from drowning
in case Of flood 1t is at the time when
it emerges from the earth, after its long
soiourn there that it is IN most danger
from enemies, for then the hog and
other animals find it a toothsonle NOR
sell and deyour it in great numbers. 1t
a later period, when it has gained the
power Of flight, it becomes the prey of
some birds, though it was reserved for
the little English sparrow to make the
| most determined and destructive war
upon it. So rayenously have the spar
rows been known TO devour the insects,
that in the height Of the cicada season a
few years ago the air would frequently
be full of the floating gossamer wings
of the devoured insect.-Cor Harper's
Weekly.
Maybe He Knows Where ali the Pins Go.
!