The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-19
LOCUST YEAR.
The English Sparrow Ready for His
Old-Time Foe.
ZION the New Yorl Evening Post.

Old-Time Foe.
From the New York Evening Post.
When Henry Thoreau lived on Staten
Island in 1913, as tutor in the family of
Judge William Emerson, the brother of
the Concord philosopher, he wrote letter
to his mother, on July Z, in which he
speaks Of the 17-year locust or cicada.
Pray says he, 'haye you the l7-year
locust in Concordl The air here is filled
with their din. They come out of the
ground at first in an imperfect state, and,
crawling up the shrubs and plants, the
perfect insects burst out through the
back.
They are doing great damage to the
fruit and forest trees. The latter are
covered with dead twigs, which in the
distance look like the blossoms of the
chestnut. They bore every twlg of last
years growth in order to deposit their
eggs IN 1t. In few weeks the eggs will
De Matched, and the worms fall to the
ground and enter it, and in 1850 make
tnelr appearance again. l conversed about
their coming this season before they ar
rived They DO no injury to the leaves,
out, besides boring the twigs, suck the
sap Tor sustenance. Their din is heard
Dy those who sail along the shore
from the distant woods. Pharaoh.
Phar-r-oh. They are departing now.
logs, cats and chickens subsist mainly
upon them in some places
Ihis account by Thoreau gives a very
good idea of the life and habits of what
Is certainly one Of the most remarkable
insects. II must be remembered that he
only refers to one of the broods or colo
mes OF the seventeen-year-oldl locust, for
the insect makes its appearance in great
numbers in different parts of the United
States in different years. Thus, the
brood, OF which DR. Fitch, who was state
entomologlst for long time, wrote of as
lnhaoltlng the valley of the Hudson river,
mas appeared in the vicinity of this city
IN 1909, 1926 1843, 1860 and in 1877.
from this record it will be seen that
1894 is the year for its temperance, and
IN a few weeks, particularly in the latter
part OF May and in June, their monoto-
nous song will sound alongIthe woodpaths
and country roads. From the valley of
the Hudson this brood extends through
New Jersey into Pennsylvania and Vir-
ginia.
In these later DAYS OF science, the vari-
Gus broods throughout the country have
been numbered so that they may be re-
ferred to with convenience and accuracy,
and distribution of each is fairly well
known.
Between the ''locust years. mentioned
ABOVE the clcadas have occasionally APP
peared in the vicinity of New York city
in some numbers, though not so plenti-
fully as to attract general attention. This
Will be readily understood when it is con-
sldered that the limits of the various
broods are not sharp, the cicadas appear
ing In decreasing numbers toward their
outskirts, which often slightly overlap.
Consequently when the insects appear in
numbers in portions of Pennsylvania or
western New York, there will in all prob
ability be few in this vicinity also.
This was the case in 1881, 1885, 1899,
1872 and 1893 in each of which years they
were observed on Staten Island or in some
other suburb Of the city. Those that made
their appearance last summer, and during
that of 1892, were probably precursors of
the general swarm that is to come in a
few weeks and fill the trees with their
din. These forerunners have been known
to appear in some numbers before the adj
vent of the general assembly, and show
that each brood is slightly indefinite in
time as well as in extent
The English sparrow has proved in the
past mighty enemy to the periodical
clcada, and bids fair to reduce his kind
considerably. The sparrow usually
catches theinsect by of the fore wings,
whereupon it flaps about violently and
ends by breaking the large rib or vein
that runs along the margin and makes the
WINK SUN duu CdpdOl6 Ol SGFlRlng Jne air
TO some purpose. This rib being broken
the insect cannot fly, and is only capable
of buzzing about on the ground, and the
sparrow may let go his hold and proceed
to attack other vulnerable points, which
he is not slow in doing.
There is also a fungus, known as Mas
sospora cicadina, that is quite destructive
to these insects. Even when they are
alive and quite active, their abdomens
will be filled with the spores OF this fun
gus, and if they are tapped sharply with
the finger, the spores are given forth in a
cloud, reminding one of a similar expert
ment often performed with the common
puff ball.