The suppositions o f these authors seem well founded ; we have examined many
species that were unknown to them, and find the spine before mentioned so placed
in many insects as to prevent the motion o f the lamellæ. W e have a specimen from
America, whicli, in addition to the usual organs o f sound, have two large hollow protuberances
or drums ; one on each side o f the abdomen ; and must, we imagine, produce
a louder sound than any y e t discovered ; a species very similar to tbis is also brought
from New Holland.
The proboscis o f these insects is a hard or horny tube, in which a very acute slender
sucking-pipe is concealed. The horny tube is not unlike a g imlet in form, and is used
by those creatures to bore through the bark o f trees, to extract the ju ic e s on wliicli it
feeds. Linnæus has named the species o f one division, in liis System, M an n ife ra , because
they had been observed to fly among ash trees, bore many holes in them, and when the
manna had oozed out return and carry it oft’.
Witii this proboscis they bore holes in the small twigs o f the extreme branches o f
trees and deposit their eg g s in them, sometimes to the amount o f six or seven hundred.
As each cell contains no more than from twelve to twenty eg g s, it does great damage to
the trees they frequent. Stoll says, “ the common one,* which is found at Surinam in
the coffee plantations, greatly injuiæs those trees ; the females depositing their e g g s in
o rg an s o f llie sound ; a n d h e was n o t satisfied th a t th e s light motion o f th e lamellæ on these p a rts could
produc e th e loud s inging noise o f th e Cicada. H e o p ened a few cicadæ on th e b a ck p a rt o f th e body, so th a t
th e inne r stru c tu re o f th e u n d e r side was d isplayed, a n d especially th e p a rts c o n n e c ted to th e curious organs
h e h ad discovered u n d e r th e lamellæ. A t la s t he discovered two la rg e muscles, which a t th e ir p o in t o f union
formed a sp a c e almost sq u a re , a n d were conne c ted with th e red tria n g u la r fields he h a d observed on th e u n d e r
side : as b e conc luded these formed a m a te ria l p a r t o f th e organs he wished to discover, he examined them
a tten tiv e ly , and found th a t, by moving th em b a ckw a rd s a n d forwards, h e could m ak e a c ic ad a sing th a t h ad
be en d e a d m any months. Although th e sound was n o t stro n g , it ten d ed to prove th a t he h a d discovered th e
in s trum e n t th a t produc ed it.— In an o th e r p a rt he says, it is evident th e sound is c aused by th e little skins co n ne
c ted to th e muscles, be c ause when th ey were ru b b ed with a b it o f p ap e r th ey em itted th a t kin d o f sound.
Roesel ha s discovered two little pieces o f horn y substanc e th a t are connected by a sort o f fibre within the
skins, in th e b o d y , a n d he supposes when th is is in motion, it strike s ag a in s t th e be fore-mentioned th in skins,
a n d produc e s a sound, b y th e same m e ans as a hollow body, or d rum , when stru ck with a stick ; a n d also th a t
this noise may be varied o r mod u la ted b y a s light motion o f th e lame llæ, b u t c an n o t be pro d u c ed w ith o u t the
assistanc e o f th e in te rna l nerves a n d muscles conne c ted with th e org an s first described.
Au th o rs ag re e th a t th e Cic adæ o f h o t countrie s emit th e lo u d e s t sound. I t appe a rs from th e pape rs of
Mr. Sme e tliman (who resided a considerable time in Africa) published b y Mr. D ru ry , th a t th e sound o f some
kin d s pe culia r to th a t p a r t o f th e world is so loud a s to be he a rd a t h a lf a mile d istanc e : a n d th a t th e singing
o f one within doors silences a wliole company.— T h e same a tten tiv e o bserver says, th e open p a rts o f ih e country
a re never w ith o u t tlie ir music, some s inging in th e evening, a n d otliers only in th e d ay.
* La Cigale Vieilleuse. Cic ad a Tibicen.
the young shoots, and in holes they bore with their sheatli. Th ey live on tlie juices o f
the trees.”
M. Merian g iv es a figure and account o f the metamorpliosis o f a cicada found in
Surinam. She lias mistaken the winged insect to be only the pupa o f the Fulgora
L a te rn a ria , wliich is too absurd to deserve contradiction ; in other respects her account
is interesting, and particularly that part which relates to the pupa state, or chafer, as it
is termed. “ The pomegranate tree,” says Merian, “ so well known in all other countrie.s,
grows also in the fields o f Surinam. On them I have found a species o f cliafer, wliich
is naturally very lazy, and consequently very easy to be caught. It carries undemeatli
the head a lon g trunk, with which it easily penetrates the flowers, in order to extract the
honey from them. On the 20th o f May, when they were laying quite quiet, tlie skin of
the back burst open, and green flies, with transparent wings, issued from them. These
flies are found in abundance in Surinam, and have such a rapid fligiit, that it took me
many hours to catch one.”
The pupa Donovan received from China with Cicada atrata very much resembles
tliat figured by Merian. It has the long sucking trunk or proboscis; but tlie most
formidable o f its weapons seem to be the fore feet, wliicli are thick, strong, and armed
with spines or t e e t li; with these it may do more injury to the plants, by tearing off the
tender slioots, than by wounding the trunk to extract the moisture.
The upper and under side o f a male o f Cicada atrata are represented, not only to
illustrate our preceding remarks, but because Donovan believed no figure had been given
o f it by any author, unless D e Zweite Chineesche cicade o f Sto ll (P i. 2 0 . fig. I IS .) is
intended for tliis insect.
Th e general appearance o f both sexes o f Cicada atrata is very similar, except that
the female is furnished with a sheath, and the male with lamellEe. The sheatli o f the
female is partly concealed within a valve at the extremity o f the abdomen, and is only
protruded when the creature lays her eggs. In the figure o f tlie under surface o f a male
insect, exhibited in the annexed plate, the lamellse are distinguished by two sta rs: tlie
sin gle star denotes the situation o f the spine, mentioned by Roesel and Reaumur.
Tlie Camphor-tree, L a u ra s Camphora, is represented in the plate. Th e tree whicli
produces the useful drug camphor is very abundant In Japan and Clnna. Sir G. Staunton
says, it is tlie only species o f the laurel genus growing in China, where it is a large and
valuable timber tree, and is never cut up for tlie sake o f tlte drug; but that substance is
obtained by decocting the small branches, twigs, and leaves, and subliming the camphor
in luted earthen vessels. A purer sort is brought from the island o f Borneo and Japan,
which is sujiposed to be a natural e.xudation from the tree when the bark is wounded.
Sir G. Staunton says, the Caniplior-tree is felled in those countries for the sole purpose
o f finding tlie drug in substance among the splinters.