The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-06-01
FACTS ABOUT SEVEN
TEEN-YEAR LOCUST
INTERESTING INSECT WHICH APP
PEARS EVERY SEVENTEEN
YEARS.
History Of Locust Told in the Sci
tntific American by DR.. L. O.
Howard Says Alarm Felt at their
Appearance Largely Unjustified.

| in the world is the American pc
riodical Cicada, or so-called seven
lteen-year locust. Every seventeen
years in given localities in the
Northern States, and every thir-
teen years in given localities in the
Southern States, this sizable but
rather frail insect comes out of the
ground in great numbers some
times in incredible cumberland
for few weeks pierces the air
with its shrilling. 1t sometimes
happens that in certain localities
| it will appear at more frequent in
tervals. Thus in 1902 it appeared
| in parts of Maryland, New Jersey
and Eastern Pennsylvania, and III
the present year 1910 it will again
appear in the same general region.
But this does not mean that those
| which will appear this eyar are the
children of those that laid eggs in
1902; they belong to different brood,
and their immediate parents were
flying and singing and laying their
eggs in 1854, while the children of
| the 1902 brood will not issue as
adults until 1919.
There are many of these so-called
broods, all accurately mapped, and
their appearance from time to time
can be predicted with certainty.
The seventeen-ye year brood of the
present year, for example, running
from North Carolina up to Albany,
New York. and occurring also in
Connecticut, has been reported ev-
cry seventeen years since 1924 in
Connecticut, and in New Jersey
since ITS. Many changes have
occurred in the 1877 years elapsing
between 1924 and 1911. Many a
generation of uicada larvae have
gone into the ground for their long
years of larval life, emerging at last
to the surface only to find in many
instances that in the seventeen
years house or a paved street or
possibly whole town has COW
cred the surface.
There are thus two distinct races
of the periodical Cicada. The north
ern, or Seventeen-year race stays
under ground seventee nyears, ex-
cept for a few weeks. The southern,
thirteen-year race occupies only
thirteen years in its subterranean
growth. And occasionally, as Wit
hanpfa tn aagesen4m..s.......s...Ih bod
| of each race will make its appear
ance. On the whQe for one rea-
| son or another, m st of the great
| broods are growing smaller. This
is due in part to TIM gradual change
| in the face of the lountry through
civilization. and partly, in our cities,
| to the work of The English spar
row now become so annoylngly
abundant. Exact records of the ap-
| pearances of the 0icada have been
kept for many years, and it is there
fore possible to predict their APP
pearances with exactitude for many
years to come. Id 1912 they will
come out over most of Iowa; in
1913 in Southwestern Iowa and
lsouthward through Eastern Kansas
/ and Western Missouri into the IN
dian Territory andI possibly into
| Texas. In 1914 compact brood
will appear all through Eastern
Ohio and over most df Western Vir-
ginia, and in 1915 scattering brood
will be found through Wisconsin.
michigan, Illinois, indiana, Ohio,
West Virginia and s@uth.
The alarm always kaused by the
appearance or announced appear
ance of this insect Is largely I'M
Justified. They take practically no
food, and injure treB only by the
unfortunate way in Which they Law
their eggs. They h&gin to come
out about the end 0f$May or early
in June, and are ad|ive as adult
Cicadas for four or Ne weeks. At
ter mating, the femd/e lays her
eggs by working her ST kong oviposi-
or tender twigs of many different
kinds of trees. inserting her eggs
, under the bark and in the sapwood
in a line along the axis OF the twig.
!, Twigs thus alta. led usually die,
and where the Cicada is numerous
/ these terminal twigs with dead
leaves are frequently SO abundant
as to make 1t appear as if a patch
of woodland had been seriously in
i Jufeu. Inc eggs DegiII 10 HdIcn iaLe
in July, and the active little larvae
drop to the ground and bnrow be-
meath the surface, where they re-
main until the end OF May of the
seventeenth year thereafter These
larvae are not grhb-like, but are
active, four-legged creatures, and
burrow readily through The soil
by means of enlarged foreIegs. They
do not seem to injure the roots OF
4 plants, but to derive their susten-
i ance from the organic matter con-
4 tanned in soil moisture.
Il In the late spring OF the seven
4 teenth year, they have passed
/ through their last mott and have
l become pupae, but in this tage they
|are as active as before. Sometimes
/ reaching the surface of the soil,
/ they will build little cones or CHM
Ineys Of earth above the surface of
/ the soil, building upward continual
Ily for several weeks before the time
Of issuing. Why they should build
/ these chimneys or turrets or huts,