Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-07-27


the life Of the creature in its winged
state is not longer than week, dur
ing which mating il accomplished.
When the proper time has arrived
the female proceeds to prepare a
nest.
Having selected q twig, she clasps
it with her legs and thrusts her
'ovipositor' again and again into the
bark. This instrument is very
sharp, and is provided with an in
genious arrangement of little saws.
By means of it the female makes a
longish hole, which she enlarges
until it is big enough to hold from
ten to twenty eggs. These she lays
in the assure side by side until it is
filed, placing them in pairs. Then
she goes to work to build another
nest, and continues until, perhaps,
she has constructed a score of such
nests along the twig. BY the time
her supply of 400 or 500 eggs is
exhausted, she is so weak that pre-
sently she falls down and dies.
The eggs are one-sixteenth Of an
inch long. They are so delicate
that the forms of the unmatched
insects can be seen through the
shells. At the end of a period
variously stated at from fourteen to
fifty-two days the young cicadas
come out. They are yellowish
white, with six legs, the first pair
resembling lobster claws. Under
the breast is u beak for sucking.
They are very lively. The first
thing necessary for them is to reach
the ground, and this they accom-
plish in a very extraordinary man.
ner, going to the edge of the limb
and deliberately dropping off. The
instinct which impels them thus
fearlessly to precipitate themselves
from heights of which they can have
formed no conception is more re-
markable than that which carries
the gosling to the water as soon as
it is Matched. Having reached the
earth, they Immediately barrow in
to it with their strong fore feet.
In digging they follow the roots of
plants, and are subsequently, found
attached to those which are most
tender and succulent, perforating
them with their beaks, and thus
imbibing the vegetable juices which
constitute their sole nourishment.
During their long period of subter-
ranean confinement they grow slow
ly, but undergo no other change
save for the more complete devel-
opment of four scale-like promi-
nences on the back, which contain
the future wings. These cicades
do some small damage to fruit trees
by cutting the twigs to make nests,
but that is all the harm they are
guilty of.
Civilization is rapidly reducing
the numbers of the cicadas. One
of the causes at work is the clearing
of land. Domestic fowls destroy
them in great numbers. Many
that bury themselves as larve in
green fields find themselves shut
down beneath asphalt and maca-
damized pavements when they are
ready to come up. But their worst
foe is the English sparrow, which
first became acquainted with them
in 1885. It found them SO palata-
BILE that it dropped everying else and
fed on them exclusively. 1t killed
so many that the ground over large
areas was fairly strewn with their
wings. The brood OF 1885 was one
of the greatest ever known. But
the destruction which it encounter
ed was so tremendous that it is
likely to be represented by COM
paratively few individuals when it
appears again in 1902. On leaving
the ground the insects are attacked
by many reptiles and mammals, as
well as by birds and cannibal in
sects. When they have attained
the winged state birds pursue them
and devour them voraciously. 1t
has already been observed that the
numbers of successive broods are
diminishing.
During the memorable season of
1885 there was widespread fear of
the cicada on account of its sup
posed sting. People denied them
selves blackberries, raspberries and
other fruits, because they were
afraid of being poisoned by the
eggs. Other believed that the in