The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-06-27

many that the large ones are males and
the smaller their mates. The singing
! ali done by the male, which CRATES
his rough legs over two soaOrous drums
under his wings. A. i the case in
many other Insect families. he makes
hi appearance several days in advance
Of his mate - i'm the latter part Of the
simmer when the woods abound with
females hi- song l. but seldom heard.
Beginning with the laying Of the
mothers cggs, the evolution Of the
cieada Is Thought to De one Of the
rarities Of nature. and entomologists
agree that there Is no other insect 80
complex in its Development Its life
Is divided into three stages, two of
which are spent in the open air, and
the third under ground. In the latter
part Of the summer the female hays her
small white eggs in the sappy branches
Of any tree which has the misfortune
to grow in her path. After being
nourished but six weeks by the sap the
eggs hatch and the active little insects
cover the branches. But finally there
comes time when the bow bends and
the babies all fall of, blown by stray
zephyr, sailing like - many little featli-
ers, to the ground. Then they burrow
deep into the earth and there remain,
eating the juices Of the tree roots, for
thirteen or seventeen years. In this
underground state they have no wings,
nor does the beautiful shining skin
appear until they come out into the
sunlight During the latter years Of
their dark lives they gradually work
nearer and nearer 10 the surface, until
at last glimpse i had Of the upper
world, when, that the digging may
continue in darkness, little towers Of
dirt, resembling inverted icicles, about
four inches high, are thrown up ahead
of them. After becoming used TO the
light which shines into these hollow
towers through peep hole bored into
the side, the males get in the lead, and
when they have all plueked up courage
the line becomes reincarnated. Then
as soon as the first sun i set on their
newly-summOned hortieS, between 8
and 9 o'clock, they attach themselves
generally To the same tree, which they
have not seen for 80 many years, and
strip of their old digging clothes, leav-
ing the transparent shells - often seen
clinging to the bark. Then wings are
suddenly grown, and before an hour
the new white skin receives its tints
and the aerial journey is commenced.
Thus the old family tree, if il does not
die out in the first generation, is used
over and over again, devOured from
underneath for a long period and used
a. a cradle and nursery during the
Matching season.
Because of it, peculiar habit the
locust, or cieada, has provoked much
superstition. The ancient Hebrews and
other Oriental nations called its bands
the avenging armies Of the deity, and
the Arabs of to-day find a statement to
that effect written in the crOss-veins Of
the wings. The American farmer also
finds the letter W ON each wing and
says it forewarns the coming Of war,
but, as the agricultural reports say,
''warm weather" is the best interpreter
tion. There has been much argument
among naturalists "a TO whether the
cieada has power Of stinging generally
attributed 10 il. The long bill through
which il sucks the juices Of trees con-
tains no poisonous glands, - il is
thought that most of the injury for
which it is blamed is done by wasps,
which prey upon it and which may
often be seen holding fast to its body
in flight Professor Riley, curator of
the department Of insects in the Nation
al Museum, Washington, diseourages
the idea that the cicada is at all pugnac-
iOus. He says he has handled hun
dreds, both males and females, and has
known children 20 play with them,
without experiencing any unpleasant
results. This samc scientist has also
with frying their bodies
in oil after detaching the legs and
wings, in vogue with the time-honored
custom of the East, where wild loeusts
and honey were considered fit food for
the gods. Bat the American brOOds are
not found to be particularly relishable,
in Arabia the locust is eOnsid-
cred the staff of life, being pounded in
T. -four for making bread, while
throughout the East the habit Of eating
them is carried - fis "a Ia warrant the
m srchants' selling them by measure.
Although the eicada punctures the
roots Of tres while deriving it, nOurish-
IN mt during it underground stage, il
rarely produces serious mischief, on ac-
count of it, slow development and
limited capacity for food. The female
in full growth does all Of the injury Ia
mented BY the farmer when she hacks
the twigs and poisOns the sap in laying
her eggs. She plows the tender bark
i'm long furrows, peeking il with four
hooks, which she works like two pairs
of nippers. From letters which farm
ers have sent to the Secretary Of Agri-
culture in back locust years il appears
that nothing has ever proven "A remedy
for the evil Lye, whitewash, sulphur,
aeid and hundred other
chemicals have all been tried i'm vain.
The only remedy which the Agrieultur-
al Department suggests is i'm the form
of an ounce of preventive. The farmer
should turn all Of his hogs and poultry
into his orchards that they will dev0ur
the young wingless insects as fast a
they come ont Of the ground. But one
old farmer writes that even hog was
known 10 die from Over-eating them,
there being hundreds c)ming out of the
ground NJ a tim,. Chickens have also
been known u poison their eggs by
Anthony The Wandered