According to predictions, the periodical cicadas or "seventeen-year locusts," those Methusalehs of the insect world, are again scheduled to make their appearance in various parts of the country. No less than thirty broods of this spectacular species have been tabulated by Government and state entomologists who have located them, studied their activities and checked up on their time of appearance over periods of many years. Celebrated on account of the regularity of their appearance in certain localities every seventeen years in the middle and northern States, and every thirteen years in the southern States, they excite wonder and speculation. They do not appear simultaneously over the whole country, but a brood that has colonized a certain district or area will appear periodically every seventeen or thirteen years. Countlesss thousands will swarm over this territory for a short time and then vanish.
The mystery of all this can easily be explained if we watch the actions of these remarkable creatures for a while, prying into their personal affairs and getting a line on their habits and life history. For those who have never met the periodical cicada we will sketch a hasty portrait. It measures about one and one-half inches long, has a dark-colored body and an abdomen banded with orange. Like all insects it has six legs with which to walk about and is among the number that possess four wings, two on each side. The wings are shiny and transparent, with orange colored veins at the base and front margins that blend into brown as they grow smaller. Brown markings that resemble the letter " W, " if your imagination is good, may be seen on each front wing. This is interpreted by the superstitious as a forecast of war.
Meeting our cicada face to face we note the wide forehead with prominent bright red eyes that stand out, on each side of the head, a character that gives it the additional name of "red-eyed cicada." Our cicada has no jaws but takes its food with a slender reddish colored beak used for piercing the plant tissue and sucking ou the juices. If their visits were annual this sapsucking habit would no doubt cause noticeable damage to trees and plants; fortunately they are not, and no visible injury is apparent. A further point of interest is the soundproducing organ, an elaborate drum-like apparatus on the under side of the thorax and abdomen of the males, who alone are capable of producing the loud noise or song.
This accomplishment has furnished an opportunity or excuse for every author on insect lore from Xenarchos, the Rhodian of early times, to our present day writers, to ply their witticisms on the advantage of a voiceless wife. But suffice us to say that, odd as it may seem, no real reason can be assigned for this phenomenon.
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