The Periodical Cicada (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book The Periodical Cicada (Classic Reprint) written by C. L. Marlatt and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2016-08-18 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Periodical Cicada Following brie y the history of the insect, the young ant-like larva, hatching from the egg a few weeks after the latter has been laid, escapes from the wounded limb, falls lightly to the ground, and quickly burrows out Of sight, forming for itself a little subterranean chamber or cell over some rootlet, where it remains through winter and summer, buried from light, air, and sun and protected in a manner from cold and frost. It lives in absolute solitude, separated from its fellows, in its moist earthen chamber, rarely changing its position save as some accident to the nourishing rootlet may necessitate its seeking another. In this manner it passes the seventeen or thirteen years Of its hypogeal existence in a dark cell in slow growth and preparation for a few weeks only of the society of its fellows and the enjoyment of the warmth and brightness of the sun and the fragrant air of early summer. During this brief period of aerial life it attends actively to the needs of continuing its species, is sluggish in move ment, rarely taking wing, and seldom takes food. For four or five weeks the male sings his song of love and courtship, and the female busies herself for a little longer period, perhaps, with the placing of the eggs which are to produce the subsequent generation thirteen or seventeen years later. At the close Of its Short adult existence the Cicada falls to the ground again, perhaps within a few feet of the point from which it issued, to be there dismembered and scattered about, carpeting the surface of the ground with its wings and the fragments of its body. Such in brief is the life round Of this anomalous insect. So far as is known, other cicadas appear every year, usually in comparatively small numbers, and this yearly recurrence has led to the belief that the larval existence of these species is much Shorter, if not limited to a single year. In the absence Of direct experimental proof, however, it may be true that all cicadas have a long larval existence, and the absence of well-marked broods in other species or the complete breaking up or scattering of these broods, so that individuals emerge practically every year, have erroneously been taken to indicate a much shorter term of underground life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."