Smyrna times., 1902-05-28
COLUMN OF INTEREST TO
SMYRNA PUBLIC SCHOOL
INTERESTING PAPER OF PERIODICAL Ct.
CADA" OR SEVENTEEN YEAR LOCST.
Cecil B. SandersOn of Delaware College
Experiment Station, Writes Concern
ing These Mysterious Insects.

attracted more general interest and
attention in this country than has the
Periodical Cicada, or the so. called
Seventeen Year Locust. The earliest
settlers doubtless associated its vast |
noisy swarms with the devastating in
vasiOns of the migratory locust of the |
east. Hence the popular name |
''locust" which has been used so long |
that it is doubtful if it will ever be |
discarded for the proper name-Per-
iodical Cicada. For the Seventeen
Year Locust is really not a
locust at all. That name belongs
rightly to the grasshGYpers. It is :
Cicada, and belongs to quite a differ
ent order-that of bugs-from the To-
Gusts. The real locusts or grass
hoppers have mouthparts made for
biting, while the Cicada's mOuthparts
are grown together in the form of
tube for sucking the juice of plants.
This insect, which makes its appear
arce once IN seventeen years is of in
terest to residents of this State owing
to the damage which it is supposed to
do. Our first intimati0n that the
locusts haye come is the cast off skins
which we find clinging to trees and
shrubs. Our next care should be to
examine the base of the tree and see
if we cannot find the mounds or holes
from which the Cicadas emerged
after their seventeen years hermitage.
They are often two inches in heighth
and therefore easily perceptIble.
On its emergence from the cast skin
the Cicada is long and white, except
for two black spots on its back, which
develop until they form long, CLASSY
wings, more than covering his body.
These he keeps futtering SO that they
will harden soon. In one night the
Cicada undergoes a great change.
His body is now black, with facihgs
of orange, and his wings are long and
hard. ''He is no longer a hermit.
So happy is he that he feels as if be
must burst if he does not find some
means for expressing his happiness
in this beautiful world of sunshine -
So he breaks into song. 1t cannot be
called sweet music, but it is very won
derful. q his body just behind
tjyeacb Of his %fgs is a drum, made OF
many folds of membrane. A pair OF
stout muscles throw these membranes
into vibration and the noise he makes
is great one. Only the male Cicada;
sing and the principal object of the
singing is the fascinating of the fe
male.
The damage is all done by the fem
ale. With her long ovipositor she
cuts Sits in twig and ices in theI
two rows of eggs, after which her worl
is done and she dies. Six weeks late,
fthese eggs develop into pale livel,
Vlittle creatures, which, to the nakeC
Z eye, look like tiny white ants. Unde
a lense, however, they are very differ
ent. Their front legs are shaped lik
lobster's claws, and instead of jaw
like an ants, they have long beaks
hollow like tubes. After running
around little they drop crevices an
soon form cells, which will be thei
homes for seventeen long years. Thes
cells are often found at a depth of tw
and sometimes as much as six feet be
low the surface. Their existence III
dergrOund seems to be very uneven
full. They find what food is necessar
manage to absorb sufficient in the siy
teen years to last them during the
soiourn in the upper air, as during IL
winged stage they eat nothing. The
grow slowly underground molting ol
ly six times in the seventeen year
"What may be the meditatiOns of Il
little hermit cicada during all the
years we cannot even imagine, but
suddenly becomes possessed with
desire to climb upwards and begil
digging his way toward the light.
He is now as industrious as he W
shiftless before and it takes him on
few weeks to climb out" 1t som
times happens that he comes ont b
fore his wings are ready to grow. Tn
he crawls under logs, etc, or bull
the mounds on the surface of t
ground, from which he later emere
and climbs some trees to which
may cling while he bursts out of t
last larval skin and comes forth as
winged insect.
CECIL BLANDFORD SANDERsON