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H E M I P T E R A .
^ M. Merian gives a figure and account o f Ihe metamorphofe o f a cicada found in Snrinam. She ha.
miflaken the winged in fe a to be only the pupa o f the Eulgora Lamernaria. which is too abfurd to deferve
contradiftion; in other r e% a s her account is interefiing, and particularly that part which relates to the
pnpa tiate, or chafer, as it is termed. “ The pomegranate tree,” fays Merian, " fo well know-n iu all
other countries, grows alfo in the fields o f Surinam. On them I have found a fpecies o f cliafer, which is
naturally very Jazy, and confequently very eafy to be caught. It carries underneath the head a long trunk
with which it eafily penetrates the flowers, in order to extraft the honey from them. On the 20th o f May'
when they were laying quite quiet, the tkin o f the back burli open, and green flies, with tranfparent wings,'
ilfued from them. Thefe flies are found in abundance in Surinam, and have filch a rapid flight, th a u i
took me many hours to catch one.”
The pnpa we received from China with our Cicada atrata, very much refembles that figured by Merian
I t has the long fucking trunk or probofcis; hot the moft formidable of it. weapons feem to be the fore feet
which are thick, ftrong, and armed with fpines or teeth; with thefe it may do more injury to tlie plants,'
by tearing o tfth e tender thoots, than by wounding the trunk to extraft the moiftnre.
We have reprefented the upper and under tide o f a male of this interefting fpeeies. Cicada atrata, not
only to illnftrate our preceding remarks, but becaufe we believe no figure has been given o f it by' any
author, uolefs Be Zm-aru Chiueefdu cicade^ o f Stohl is intended for this infeft. The Fabrician defcription
has no fynonyms.
The general appearance of both fexes of Cicada atrata is very fimilar. except that the female is fur
mthed with a theath, and the male with lamelte. The theath o f the female is partly concealed within a
valve a t the extremity o f the abdomen, and is only protruded when the creature lays her eggs. In the
figure o f the under fnrface of a male infeft, exhibited in the annexed plate, the lamellie are diftinguithed
by two ftars; the fingle ftar denotes the fitnalion o f tlie fpine, mentioned by Roefel and Reanmur.
L a u ru s C amphora.— Camphor-tree.
The tree which produces the ufefnl drug c am fh r is very abundant in Japan and China. Sir G.
Staunton fays it is the only tpecles o f the laorel genns growing in Cl.iua, where it is a large and valuable
timber, and is never ent up for the fake o f the drng; but that fubflanee is obtained by decofting the fmall
branches, twigs, and leaves, and fubliming the camphor in luted earthen vetfels. A purer fort is brought
from the itland o f Borneo and Japan, which is fuppofed to be a natural exudation from the tree when the
bark IS wounded. Sir G. Staunton fays the Camphor-tree is felled iu thofe countries for the foie purpofe of
finding the drug in fubfiance among the fplinters.
' La Cigale Chinoife r , pres de Canton en Chine. Cab. de Monf. L . F. HMu/en, pl. i