The Dickinson press., 1896-02-08
ONE OF NATURES ODDITIES.
The Bug that Waits Seventeen Yea
for It's Transformation.

The Bug that Waits Seventeen Years
for Its Transformation.
The late l.. l.. Langstroth when a
boy was a close observer Of insect life.
Once he was whipped for wearing
holes in his trousers by too much
kneeling on the ground to observe
ants. Between the ages of eight and
twelve he made q thorough study of
cicadas, including the 'seventeen-year-
locusts," as they appeared in Center
Square, Philadelphia. This is his ac-
count of them:
1.-THE larvae of these insects come
out Of the ground late in the afternoon,
and I noticed that the holes out of
which they crept were almost as
smoothly bored as though made. with
an augur. AS soon as an insect
emerged it made for a tree or some
other object. If suddenly approached
while in the act of mounting, 1t would
often drop to the ground as If dead.
After fastening its sharp claws into
some chosen surface, it remains mo-
tiOnless for q short time. When first
leaving it's hole the body of the larvae
feels quite hard. but 0 becomes soft
as dough. Then 1t can no longer crawl,
and If prevented, before becoming
helpless, from getting a firm hold on
some object, it could not emerge from
its shell; but, fastened firmly by the
claws, 1t soon begins alternately to
contract and expand it's body, until
what Mt first resembles a little crack
49, SAc 10 AZ ~,tlo,, n ,.1 xxyi1o,p die
closing more of the emerging insect.
part of it's body from the shell, then
the legs, and rests ne while until it's
claws become strong enough to enable
1t to climb out altogether and cling to
the rough surface Of the tree. Its
wings, which are narrow and thick,
now thin out gradually. like a piece Of
dough over which a roller Is continu-
ally passing. Reaching their full ex-
pansion, they remain flattened until
quite dry, when suddenly they. assume
the position for flight.
"As the transition from hard to soft
conditions is very short, 1t is obvious
that the holes in the ground from
which they emerge, often bored
through hard ground, must be made q
considerable time before they are re
quired, to enable the insect to push
quickly through the little space that is
needed to let it ont when its instincts
teach it that the time ia ut hand for its
coming changes.
"The locust lives only a short time as
a flying insect, when the female hores
holes into the cxtremities of small
twigs in which she inserts her eggs
The larvae, when Matched, feed upor
the twigs until the latter wither ant
fall to the ground. When the yOun.
cicadas penetrate the earth to reacl
the roots of trees. by sucking the juice.
of which. with their sharp. hollow pro
boscis as was discovered not man,
years ago by a distinguished LADY, tn,
species live for seventeen years.
Returning to Philadelphia in his for
tieth year, Mr.. Langstroth, 1t being Ia
Gust year. collected larvae from tree
in independence Square and sat III
. until midnight with his daughter an,
! some school companions to show then
the curious changes Just described: bu
3 from bOyfsh recollection he could hay
described them almost rs wildly an,
: accurately before us after the later al
e Notwithstanding Gentleman.
HanPv VIII ma n. voa> %no,,hl>A -,th ~,