Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-05-15
17-YEAR LOCUST
IS SLOWLY GOING
Causes Leading to Disappear
ance Outlined by Department
of Agriculture.
TO Be EXTINCT IN Time
Circular Gives Succinct History of In
sect and the Protective Means
That Can Be Taken
Against 1t.

WashingtoH.-Have you an ideal in
the absolute in hopelessness?
Well, let it be said that the house in
which you live is comparatively new
built within the last II years. The
ground on which it. stands was orig
inally woodland. In the summer Of
1902 all the trees Whereabouts were full
of 17-year locusts. Eggs were depos-
tied in the branches, the larvae came
out, dropped lightly to the ground, and
dug in The long period of subter-
ranean existence is almost ended. In
May the insects will start toward the
light and air-and will come in con-
tact with the concrete floor of your
cellar! There may be another situa-
ton as hopeless, but certainly none
more so.
That clearing up of woodland for
the building of houses and for cultiva-
ton is the principal agency that is maxi
ing the 17-year locust, whose real
name is the periodical cicada, van
ishing species. DR.. Gideon B. Smith,
one of the earlier scientific observers,
allowed rather a melancholy note to
creep into his invaluable manuscript
when he wrote that future generations,
if they read his writings at all, would
shake their heads and think of him as
a rOmancer.
Being Slowly Exterminated.
In the same note, also, G. L. Mariatt,
one Of the latest systematic Observ-
ers, writes in his bulletin, '"To the
lover of nature there is something re-
grettable in this slow determination of
an insect which presents, as does the
periodical cicada, so much that is in
terestins and anomalous"
Thus, the present-day experts of the
United States department of agricul-
ture agree with the early observer that
the time will come when there will be
no periodical cicadas left.
That time, however, is long way
off. There will be multiplied millions
of them this year and in other years
to come. For many persons the cicada
will be as new a sight as it was to the
first observers when they came from
Europe to the American forests. Mod
ern writing on the subject is done, of
course in the light of all the observa-
! tons that have been made through
more than 200 years. They lack the
freshness of the writings Of men who
saw the cicada before a literature of
the insect had been built up. Those
! early writings, therefore, possess an
unusual interest.
Accompanied by Fever.
In 1869 Nathaniel MOreton, who
lived at Cambridge, Mass, wrote "New
England's Memorial" In it he told of
ga kind of a pestilent fever" that had
prevailed in 1858 and carried off
many of the whites and Indians in and
near Plymouth"
at is to be observed" he says, "that
the spring before there was numer-
Gus company of flies, which were like
for bigness unto wasps or bumble-bees,
they came out of little holes in the
ground, and did eat up the green
things, and made such a constant yell
ing noise as made all the woods ring
of them and ready to deaf the hear
ers.'
The old gentleman is to be excused
for believing that the cicadaS "did eat
up the green things" The appearance
Of the dead and Withered branches
doubtless was such as to justify such a
conclusion. One "T. NJ" supposed to
be Thomas Matthews, son Of Samuel
Matthews, governor Of Virginia, who
observed the cicadas in 1915, fell into
the same error.
For nearly 300 years, then, the writ
ten record of the cicada has been
piling up, undergoing corrections now
and then, receiving new discoveries
from time to time. AS nearly as can
be Judged it is complete now. The
latest addition is a circular "The Sew
enteen-Year Locust in 1919" by Dixon
Merritt of the office of information,
United States department of agricul-
ture. It does not pretend to present
new facts, but it gives succinct his
tory of the cicada and the protective
means that can be taken against 1t.
The circular will be available to inter
ested persons in the Fl states where
the periodical cicada will appear this
year.