The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1911-07-04


exact science. but the process OF pre-
dieting this insect invasion Is an ex-
ception to the rule.
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. hlec
1t away, and when the scheduled week
rolled around visited spot marked
as within the prognosticated field OF
battle. Here l saw the enemy ad-
vance and viewed the succeeding
tumult. 1t was a sight for sore eyes,
spectacle to be remembered through
out lifetime.
But the high doings of 1902 were as
nothing compared with those which
Mother Nature will pull on this spring
in 389 counties of twenty-one Amer
| lean states. For the first time since
1894 two of the major broods" Of
periodical '1ocusts" will simultaneous
ly 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 a century and 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
eouth last saw the scenes OF their
birth in the year of the Spanish war
1898-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
|
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 1878. 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 visi
, us at the same time until the yeal
1872.
The periodical cicada-found onl,
} in America-lives to be older than any
!. other insect known to science. Tht
7 two broods which are to appear THU
, year have respective spans Of liz
which a dog and cat could with bu
difficulty attain.
Why the northern species lives un
, foreground for exactly seventeen years
: while the southerners maintain thei
subterranean existence for just thir
teen yeRrs-never more nor less Il
either case-is one of the riddles o
. science. but is supposed to be due t.
differences In climate-to the sam
5 phenomena which cause higher spe
}. cies to mature earlier in the soutl
than In the north.
The eggs which bore the counties
billions Of the two broods to appea
. this spring we're laid In the summer
. Of 1894 and 1898, respectively. A FEY
3 weeks later the baby cicadas-abou
\ the size Of minute ants-escaped froI
r their shells. fell lightly to the groun
and quickly burrowed out of sigh
each forming for himself little sui
. terranean chamber or cell adjoinin
. the sappy root of the family tree,
whose twigs the productive eggs ha
. been deposited for nourishment.
II this underground cell, at first the siz
Of 4 small grain or bird shot, b.
gradually growing with its occupan
each cicada has remained within tv
~ feet Of the surface through winter ar
. summer buried from sunlight and al
= 1t has lived thus In solitary confln
meuI IOE tuITteou Ut seventeen ycoi
s. as the case might be. knowing only 1
moist earthen chamber. separate
from its brothers and sisters, rare
70 changing its position. save as son
ae accident to the nourishing rootlet h
70 caused 1t to burrow further, in scar
!" Of another.
u In this sepulchral darkness and SO
tude each of these little grubs is tod
awaiting natures signal for 1t
W emerge from the ground. grow win
and enjoy only a few weeks of the
~ ciety of its fellows. the warmth q
~ brightness OF the sun. Today the
- billions Of waiting cicadas are with
about q half inch Of the soil surfs
Of the twenty-one states indicate
Each is now Of the color and shape
~ the brown locust shells" which
-, past years you have seen adhering
trees.
Just before coming to the gurfl