The male locust may "shrill" their chorus, sing their "Pharaoh" song or squawk their alarms, but according to all investigators the females, lacking ears, do not hear and apparently pay no attention to the noisy chatter of their mates. Females of the species, however, do play a part in the economy of our civilization as destructive agents. After mating they are most naturally interested in laying eggs, which in this instance is the cause of all the trouble. First they cut a series of slits or punctures with their powerful egg-laying apparatus or ovipositor in the twigs of various trees or plants. It is in these slits, which have been formed into smooth chambers, that the eggs are arranged in neat longitudinal rows. It is easy to be seen that a number of such punctures or slits in twigs will greatly weaken them. This is exactly what happens, the wind and weather will break them at this point and then they hang, brown and dry, to disfigure the landscape as well as to cause injury to the plant.
When orchards and nurseries are in the path of these invaders the damage is greater and more noticeable. Growing fruits break the twigs at the weak points and foliage and fruit wither and spoil. Again the injury may affect the growth of fruit for the next year. The young cicadas or nymphs, upon emerging from the eggs, drop from the trees and hide themselves in cracks in the soil. At this time they look very much like fleas, but they are furnished with spiny legs and large strong thighs that are capital instruments for digging. Working their way into the earth they often attain a depth of a foot or eighteen inches below the surface and here they live their long underground life. No wonder the periodical cicada stands out as unique among the insect tribes, sixteen years from egg to adult, toiling away in its subterranean burrows below the surface of the earth and sucking the sap from the small roots that grow in their neighborhood for subsistence.
Changing their clothes every two or three years, which in this instance means shedding their old skin, the young cicadas grow slowly but surely as the years roll by. Finally, when the spring of the seventeenth year is at hand, our cicadas, now in the last pupal stage, are ready for their next adventure. When Maytime gives her magic signal up they come, hiding for a while beneath the surface of the soil under stones and sticks. Another springtime call and out they come in countless swarms, crawling up the trunks, fence posts or any object that happens to be in their path while the ground is covered with the round holes from which they have emerged.
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David is the author of many articles including Best Friend Quotes and also the author of Best life quotes
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