Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-05-10

: =: .: ::
EA YEA I'm seventeen years ID que
E3 this spring.
Nm. SN The bug prophets Of the
E1M United States bureau OF
entomology have just
BkSa!ASlA framed forecast that
will indicate to citizens,
= far and wide, the coun-
ties in which the In
vaders will appear.
Prophecy. we are told. is not yet an
exact science. but the process of pre-
dieting this insect invasion is an ex-
ception to the rule.
I never religiously believed that 1t
could be done until beheld for my
self In the spring of 1902. Four full
years In advance Of that date the off.
cial prophets had given me map Of
the predicted theater Of war. 1 filed
1t away, and when the scheduled week
rolled around / visited spot marked
as within the prognosticated field of
battle. Here saw the enemy ad.
vance and viewed the succeeding
tumult. 1t was sight for sore eyes, a
spectacle to be remembered through.
out lifetime.
But the high doings Of 1902 were as
nothing compared with those which
Mother Nature will pull of this spring
in sS9 counties of twenty-one Amer
lean states. For the first time since
1894 two of the major broods" Of
periodical "locusts" will simultaneous
~ appear.
It will be the last time within our
natural lives that such an onslaught
will be Witnessed. nor will our chill
dren's children see the like. for,
strangely enough, two OF these major
broods" will not again appear at the
same time until century and a half
shall have passed.
The two armies are of distinct races,
the one peculiar. to the north and the
other to the south. The southerners
have been intrenched under ground
for precisely thirteen years and the
northern warriors have been similarly
hiding beneath their cooler soil for
exactly seventeen twelve months.
Those which now are to appear In the
south last saw the scenes of their
birth In the year of the Spanish war
189S-while those that are to invade
the north have not gazed upon their
native heath since 1894. In these
years countless millions of the re-
spective races went into hiding be-
meath the soil and since that time not
an individual among them has chosen
to lift his eyes above ground.
The two broods will overlap in In
diana, while the whole of New Jersey
and the District OF Columbia are
marked for invasion by the northern
ers. The latter constitute one of the
best recorded of the |17-year broods-
one which has been regularly reported
in Connecticut every seventeen years
since 1924. and at equal intervals in
New Jersey since 1875. And the south.
erners compose one Of the two largest
13-year broods known to entomologists.
Although others have appeared
among us at more or less frequent In
tervals. these two exact broods have
not appeared together in America
since 1890. nor will they again visit
US at the same time until the year
1882. go
The periodical cicada-found only
In America-lives to be older than any
other insect known to science. The
two broods which are to appear this
year have respective spans Of life
which dog and cat could with but
difficulty attain.
Why the northern species lives un.
foreground for exactly seventeen years,
while the southerners maintain their
subterranean existence for Just thir.
teen years-never more nor less In
either case-is one Of the riddles of
science. but is supposed to be due to
differences In climate-to the same
phenomena which cause higher spe-
icies to mature earlier in the south
than in the north.
The eggs which bore the countless
billions Of the two broods to appear
this spring were laid In the summers
Of 1894 and 1898, respectively. A few
weeks later the baby cicadas-about
the size Of minute ants-escaped from
their shells. fell lightly to the ground
and quickly burrowed out of sight.
each forming for himself little sub
terranean chamber or cell adjoining
the sappy root of the family tree, in
whose twtgs the productive eggs had
been deposited for nourishment. In
this underground cell. at first the size
Of small grain or bird shot, but
gradually growing with its occupant,
each cicada has remained within two
feet Of the surface through winter and
summer buried from sunlight and air.
It has lived thus in solitary conflne-
ment for thirteen or seventeen years,
as the case might be. knowing only its
moist earthen chamber, separated
from Its brothers and sisters, rarely
changing its position. save as some
accident to the nourishing rootlet has
caused 1t to burrow further, in search
of another
In this sepulchral darkness and soil.
tude each Of these little grubs is today
awaiting natures signal for 1t to
emerge from the ground, grow wings
and enjoy only few weeks of the SO.
ciety of Its fellows. the warmth and
brightness of the sun. Today these
billions of waiting cicadas are within
about half inch Of the soil surface
Of the twenty-one states indicated
Each is now Of the color md shape OF
the brown "locust shellsp which In
past years you have seen adhering to
trees.
Just before coming to the surface
Pavlova to