Part 12

Our cicada belongs to quite another family of insects. Instead of jaws for biting, as our fiddling "grasshopper," the cicada has only a long "beak for sucking," and this feature alone connects him with the tribe of "bugs." Moreover, his methods of music-making are very different from those of the "grasshopper" tribe. It is the male only that makes the music, and his instrument is a drum. He carries two of these inclosed within his body, the opening of each being covered beneath by a broad plate, which is easily seen on the under surface of the body. Deep within lies the "drum," and the hard and hollow body of the insect acts as a resonator or sounding-board. This drummer does not use his legs as drum-sticks, as might be supposed, his drum being vibrated by twitching muscles and cords.

The method by which the sound is produced may be illustrated by a simple experiment. Take a small piece of stiff, sized writing-paper or smooth Manilla paper, and by pressure with some rounded blunt instrument produce a slight hollow or blister upon its surface. Upon pressure from either side this blister will be found to "snap," and could we but repeat the operation with great rapidity, a continuous sound would result. The toy called the "telegraph ticker" is made on this principle, the blister being made on a strip of steel, and the click produced by pressure upon its top, the elasticity of the metal bringing it back to its original position of rest, and each motion accompanied by a snap as the blister changes sides. Indeed, we need look no further than the bottom of almost any well-ordered tin pan for a complete illustration of this principle. So our cicada is a drummer, and his favorite tune is a "roll-call," the beats following each other with such rapidity as to form a tone. All through the summer we hear his strain. Even at this moment, as I write, a very long-winded specimen is tuning up in the tree just outside my studio window, and I am almost moved to give him some good advice. Have a care, my noisy minstrel. If it were I alone who were within ear-shot of your noise all might be well with you, but there are others near by to whom your music hath charms. Have a care! Only a moment ago I heard an ominous hum on my piazza, and upon investigation discovered a huge sand-hornet prying about the premises. He knows what he is looking for, and so ought you, if your parents have done their duty by you. Hereditary instinct at least ought to teach you that your drum should play second fiddle to that hornet's humming music. I remember once being the witness of the sad fate of an ancestor of yours who drummed not wisely but too well. He was monopolizing the neighborhood, just as you are doing now, when I noticed his principal effort was suddenly cut short in the middle in a most unusual manner. If he had been a singer I would have supposed some rival had clapped a hand over his mouth, so suddenly was the song abbreviated. In another moment there was a rustling among the leaves, as something fell from the tree in his immediate neighborhood. Down, down it dropped, its passage to the ground accompanied by one or two short, sharp, spasmodic tattoos on that same noisy drum. The object fell among some rocks, but before I could reach the spot the humming sound of a sand-hornet greeted my ears, and in a moment more the insect took flight directly across my path, and, what was more, he was not alone. Would you know who accompanied him? Look then on the picture on page 252, and have a care, my noisy friend, for the lineal descendant of that sand-hornet now hovers outside my doorway. He has a grudge against your tribe, and he is even now on your scent. Perhaps you may be interested to know what the hornet did with that rash ancestor of yours. Well, I will tell you, for your own good. Guided by his noisy demonstration, the hornet spied him on his twig, and in a second had pounced upon him and, like a highwayman, stabbed him to the heart with a poisoned javelin. This cut short his song, as you may well suppose, and he fell in the grasp of his assailant. In another moment the hornet got a fresh hold upon him, and though your ancestor, like yourself, was much bigger than the hornet, those powerful, buzzing wings made an easy burden of him for quite a distance across the meadow. Here our captor took a rest, and after tugging that helpless cicada some distance up a high fence-rail, started off on another flight, which was brought to an end in the grass at the foot of a tree. In a moment more the hornet was seen tugging its huge load up the trunk. When some ten feet in height a third flight was made, this time gradually settling down on the roof of a shed down-hill. Tugging his game to the edge of the shed roof, a fourth trip was made, and this landed the two in the neighborhood of a sand bank at the roadside in the valley below.

A sand bank of some sort is usually the terminus of this strange ride of the cicada. Thus far many curious observers have followed the two, and wondered what it was all about. If they had cared to follow the matter to the end, they would doubtless have wondered still more at the strange fate which awaited the unlucky harvest-fly, whose last song had been his own requiem. The sand-hornet is also known as the "digger-wasp," the largest of its kind, the most formidable of all our hornets, and carrying within its black, yellow-spotted body a most searching and terrible poisoned sting. It was a common belief in ancient times that "seventeen pricks of a hornet" would "kill a man," to quote from Pliny; and there are many country people to-day who would as quickly attack a rattlesnake as this big sand-hornet, and who "absolutely know" of men who have been "knocked down" and even "killed" by one stab of its sting. However this may be, it is well to keep at a respectful distance. When we know what the little yellow-jacket can do with its tiny dagger, and then reflect that this sand-hornet's javelin is about a third of an inch long, we can draw our own conclusions, and will readily understand why it was that our cicada's song was cut short. "But why didn't the hornet eat him on the spot? Why should it fly away with him and yank him about so unmercifully?" This is a common question with those who have observed the episode above described. A visit to the sand bank would have explained the object of it all. The exposed surface is seen to be perforated here and there with holes as large as one's little finger, while from one of them an occasional tiny stream of sand pours out, and we catch a glimpse of the horny, spiked legs of the digger-wasp within. Even as we observe him closely a loud hum is heard, and a filmy, buzzing object falls precipitately upon the bank, and in the jumble of wings and black bodies we now distinguish our hornet and cicada, which only a moment before had started from the edge of the shed roof above. The cicada is apparently dead, and is now an easy prey as the wasp lugs him to the mouth of one of the burrows, and soon disappears in its depths.

Further than this few have followed the couple. But Professor C. V. Riley, our government entomologist, has unearthed the entire mystery, and eye-witnessed the fate of our cicada, and I am thus enabled to picture the rest of the tragedy. What now follows is very similar to what I described in a previous paper concerning the mud-wasp nest packed with its dead spiders. Our cicada is not dead--more's the pity. The thrust of the sting has only paralyzed the insect, in order that the young of the hornet may be provided with _living_ food. From the opening of the tunnel in the sand our harvest-fly was lugged a distance of about six inches, when the tunnel branched in various directions. Down a branch for about eight inches more, and his journey terminated in a dungeon, where his career was doomed to end. Doubtless each of the other branches held one or two similar prisoners, for the cicada is the favorite prey of this particular wasp. Once arrived at the dungeon, the hornet deposits an egg upon its victim, and leaves him in its charge. In a few days it hatches into a larva with such a voracious appetite that within a week it has devoured the contents of the cicada's shell and reached its full growth. It now incloses itself within a silky cocoon, and after abiding the winter emerges at the brim in the spring a full-fledged hornet, with its mouth watering at the thought of cicadas.

What a strange wonder-working medicine is this which the hornet carries in its laboratory! In the guise of death it yet prolongs life indefinitely. The ordinary existence of the cicada, for instance, is but a few weeks at most, and yet it is claimed by Mr. Riley that if for any reason the egg of the wasp should fail to hatch, the paralyzed cicada will remain in its condition of suspended animation for a year, and presumably longer.

Here is a suggestion for the materia medica which may open up immortal fame to the chemist of the future. What is this mysterious essence which the wasp carries in its poniard? As Professor Riley suggestively remarks, "If man could do what these wasps have done from time immemorial, viz., preserve for an indefinite period the animals they feed on by the simple insertion of some toxic fluid in the tissues, he would be able to revolutionize the present methods of shipping cattle and sheep, and obviate much of the cruelty which now attends the transportation of live-stock and much of the expense involved in cold storage."

INDEX

Acrid buttercup leaves, 10.

Agaric, 142, 144.

Alders, leaf-rolling beetles of, 233.

_Amanita muscarius_, 142; print from, 143.

American velvet plant, 25.

_Andrena_ bee, 222.

Andromeda-bell, its welcome to the bee, 221, 222.

Aniline bath, 47.

Aphides, 125, 126; pest of the rose-garden; plants and trees, 126; sucking the sap, 127; disappearance of a swarm, 128; all females; end of season males appear; wonderful multiplication of, 233, 236.

Aphis lion (_Hemorobida_), 128, 129.

_Aphrophora_, "spume-bearer," 89.

Apple-trees bearing pumpkins and squashes, 192.

_Aquilegia canadensis_, columbine, 46.

Arachne, 106.

Archippus. See Butterflies.

_Argiope riparia_, ballooning or flying spiders, 120.

Artists as interpreters of the beauty of the commonplace, 26.

Asters, 110.

_Attacus prometheus_, 75.

Aurelius, 161.

Balloon, the true, 118.

Ballooning spiders (_Argiope riparia_), annual picnic of, 114; shooting of webs, 115; sailing out of sight; sending out broad bands from their spinnerets, 117; skilful handling, 118; making the balloon; the ascension; manner of alighting, 119.

Baltimore oriole, 172.

Banquet of beetles, 134.

Barberry blossoms, shrinking hearts; strange manners, 224; an unsuspecting agent, 227.

Bedegnar, sponge-gall, 43.

Bees:-- bumble, 6, 91; honey, 7; yellow-jacket, 91; _Andrena_, 222.

Beetles:-- floundering, 1; tiger (_Cicindelidæ_), oil, 2; snapping (_Elater_), 20; perfumed (_Osmoderma scabei_), 133; blue oil, 239.

Bellworts, 44.

Bigelow, Hosea, quoted, 224.

Billings, Josh, quoted, 92, 124.

Birds'-nests, materials of:-- milkweed bark, toad-skins, and snake-skins, 171, 172; twine and horse-hair, caterpillar-skins, 172; wool, dandelion seeds, 173; gray lichens and seeds, 177.

Black-paper hornet, his bad reputation, 94; a tempting target; results of an attack on his house, 96; making themselves promiscuous; the stoical bachelor, 97; his discomfiture, 98; antics explained; his hiding-place revealed, 100; favorite hunting-ground, 101; occasional big game; life of; manner of laying eggs; several broods in a season, 102; number of tiers in a nest; winter the best time to examine nests, 103.

Black snake, 85.

Blossom etiquette, 221, 222.

Blue carnation, 46.

Blue dahlia, 45.

Blue oil beetle, 239.

Blue pansies, 46.

Blue rose, 45, 46.

Blue tulip, 45.

Bluets, _Houstonia_, 24, 208, 209.

Boletus, 142.

Bridge-building spiders, 104.

Brooklyn Bridge, 104; "carrier" or "traveller" should have been called "spider," 105; Engineer Farrington crossing, 110.

Brown screech-owl, 151.

Browning, Robert, quoted, 26.

"Bull's-eye" caterpillar, 156.

Bumble-bee, 6, 91.

Butterflies asleep at night, 168.

Butterflies:-- Idalia (_Argynnis idalia_), Archippus (_Danais archippus_), yellow swallow-tails (_Papilio turnus_), 131; Red Admiral (_Vanessa atalanta_), 155, 158, 161; "comma" (_Vanessa comma_), 156, 161, 170; Atalanta (_Cynthia atalanta_), 158; semicolon (_Vanessa interrogationis_), 161.

Canterbury bells, 42.

Cardanus quoted, 93.

Careless observation of nature, 185, 186.

Carnation, blue, 46.

Catbrier, 188.

Caterpillars:-- woolly-bear (_Arctiadæ_), 148; "bull's-eye" (_Saturnia io_), 156; sphinx (_Chærocampa panipenatrix_), 241.

Cecropia, 156.

Chinese pink, 73.

Chipmonk, 153.

Chrysalids, 161.

Chrysanthemum, 86, 127.

Cicada, 87, 246; his manner of feeding; how he differs from the grasshopper; the secret of his music, 250; his last song; borne off by his captor, 251; living food, 254; suspended animation, 255.

_Clintonia_, 239.

Clothes moth (_Tineidæ_), 170.

Clover (_Trifolium_), four-leaved, 215; nine-leaved, found in groups, 216; possibilities of cultivation, 217; an exceptional find, 218, 219; saying its prayers, 219; lotus, 222.

Cobweb showers, 114; blinding dogs interrupting sport, 114; flakes and rags of, 115; silken streamers, 116; shower in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 120; on Brooklyn Bridge, 121.

Cocoons:--curious, 145; solid to the core, 147; ribs and vertebræ, 149; secret of the hollow, 151; what the pellets were, 152; yielding wasps, 242.

Colors of flowers, laws governing colors and combinations, 44, 45; natural exception to; three primary colors in the hyacinth, Egyptian lotus; sky reflections destroying color, 45.

Columbine (_Aquilegia canadensis_, _A. chrysantha_, _A. cærulea_), puzzling color classification, from white through all shades of red, yellow, and blue, 46.

"Comma." See Butterflies.

Coral, gray, 73.

Cow-spittle, 84, 86.

Crickets, 71.

Cross-fertilization of flowers, 30, 167, 208, 211, 229.

Cuban belle's toilet, 21.

Culpepper, Dr., quoted, 154.

_Cyanic_, flowers with all shades of blue and red without yellow, 45.

_Cynips seminator_, _Cynips rosæ_, gall-flies, 40.

Dahlia, blue, 45.

Daisy, pesky white weed, almost identical with the marguerite, 25; a marvel of a flower, 28, 205, 211.

Dandelion. Seeds used for birds'-nests, 173; mutilation of, 174; a week of retirement, 175; flight of the seed-bed, 176; the burglar discovered, 177, 211.

Darwin, 202, 209, 224.

Darwin flowers, 166, 167, 168.

De Candolle. Color limitations in flowers, 45, 202.

Deer-mouse, 151.

Desmodium, 223.

"Digger-wasps," sand-hornets, 252.

Dungeons of death, 54.

Egyptian history, 53.

Egyptian yellow lotus, 45.

Evening primrose (_OEnothera biennis_), 85; luminous blossoms of, 163; daylight mystery; seeds, pods, and caterpillars, 164; curious secret; two buds, 165; primrose blooms for moths, 168; blighted buds, 169; a poor recompense, 170.

Fairy sponges, the growth of; rich colors of sweetbrier sponge, 38, 42; contents of the sponge, 42.

False scorpions (_Pedipalpi_), 181; among old books and papers; born rovers, 182.

Figwort (_Scrophularia_), tall and spindling, purplish-olive blossoms; odor of; food for wasps, 28; fertilized by wasps; bud open in the morning; flowers change from day to day, 30; growth of the ovary, 32.

Flies:--gall, 40; lace-wing, 122; gold-banded, 129; house, 178; laphria, 182; ichneumon, 196; parasitic, 200; harvest, 87, 246.

Floundering beetle, color of, 1; funny characteristics of; leaking habits, 2; playing possum, 3; feats of; diminutive size when young; golden-yellow case, 4; number of joints, 5; a snug resting-place; first outing, 6; in the bee hotel; transformation, 8; in the mummy-case; change of diet, 10.

Fly-fungus, 184.

Flying-machine, toy, 117.

Fox-fire, a column of phosphorescence, of greenish, ghostly hue, 12; prosaic fence-post; effect of a reflection of lantern in water, 13; feeding on darkness, 14; short life of, 15; village spook; haunted mill, 16; a night terror, 18; six square feet of brilliancy, 19; yeast as a possible cause; dead fish; curious effect from decaying potatoes, 20; phosphorus not always present; burnt oyster-shells in combination with certain acids; the supposed secret of, 22; decoy for deer; the largest on record, 23.

Frog-hoppers, 89.

Frog-spit, 84, 89.

Gall-fly (_Cynips seminator_, _Cynips rosæ_), 40; a cousin to the wasps; magician in chemistry, 41.

Genista, 223.

Geometrical web-makers, 120.

Ghost-fire, 15.

Gold-banded flower-fly, larva of, 129.

Gossamer showers, 113.

_Gramatophora trisignata_, "Professor Wiggler," 81, 82.

Grape-vine, 186-194.

Grasshoppers, 71, 195; "Quakers;" camp-meeting ground, 197; a paralyzed specimen; unnatural movements, 198; a transparent body, 199; a swarm of flies, 200, 246.

Green roses, 187.

Grew, Nehemias, 205.

Hang-bird, 172.

Harris, "Insects Injurious to Vegetation," quoted, 89, 134, 233, 237.

Harvest-fly, 87, 246.

Hawthorne's fox-fire, 19, 23.

"History of Selborne," 114.

Hollyhock, 45.

Honey-dew, 126.

Honey-sippers, 221.

Hornet, 87, 92; as mad as, 93; always on the rampage, 94, 100, 102.

Horse-hair snakes, New England farmers' idea of the origin of; stories of, 65; flying over the meadows in haying time, 66; two specimens in alcohol, 69; what was found in a bait-box, 71.

"Hot-foot," 92.

House-fly (_Musca domestica_), his never-ending toilet, 178; a curious tag, 179; live young lobster, strength of his grip, 180; his many enemies; abundant use for all his eyes, 182; September and October danger months; the white nimbus; acute dyspepsia, 183.

_Houstonia_, bluets, 208, 209.

Hunters, 161.

Hyacinth, 45.

Ichneumon flies, 196.

Idalia. See Butterflies.

Jibing neighbors, 68.

Johnny-jumper, 46.

Jussieu, 202.

Keats, John, quoted, 164.

Lace-wing fly (_Chrysopa oculata_):--Color of eyes and wings, 122; lasting odor; ways of the gauzy sprite, 123; method of egg-laying; born in a land of plenty, 124; a voracious appetite; tubular teeth, 126.

Lady-bug, larva of, 129.

"Laphria-fly," 182.

Lilac-bushes, 75.

Lindley, 202.

Linnæus, 202, 206.

Locust, 232, 246.

Lotus clover, 222.

Lovelorn maiden, 213.

Lowell, James Russell, 224.

McCook, Rev. Dr., quoted, 110-118.

Meadow contrasts, 247.

Mignonette, 204.

Monk's-hood blossom, 205.

Morning gossamer, 112.

Moths:--Polyphemus (_Telea polyphemus_), _Attacus prometheus_, 75, 196; Trisignata (_Gramatophora trisignata_), 81; _Cecropia_, Bull's-eye (_Saturnia io_), 156; twilight moth; common clothes moth (_Tineidæ_), 170.

Mullein (_Verbascum thrapsus_), 25.

Mummy-cases, 54.

Mushrooms, 138; color of polyporus, 139; manner of making a spore-print, 140-144; colors of prints; high relief, 142; fixing the prints, 143.

Mutilla ant, 197.

Nasturtium, 205.

Nature, check to rapid increase of, 195.

_Nelumbo_, water-lily, 45.

Nettle (_Celtis_), 154.

Nettle-leaf tent-builders, laying the egg, 155; contents of the curled leaf, 156; gray and spine-covered, 156; rapid change of home, 157; another specimen of different color, stingless, 158; size of full-grown specimen; a surprise; preparing for the transformation, 159; an ever-interesting revelation; quaint golden ear-drops, 160; an astonishing trick, 161.

New England farmers, 65.

Niagara Suspension-bridge, manner of laying, 105; identical with that of the spider, 106.

_Noctiluca_, marine phosphorescent animalculæ, 21.

Noisy wigglers, 76.

_Nymphæa_, water-lily, 45.

Oak-apple, 43.

October rowen-fields, 116.

Odor of woods, 131.

Oil beetle. See Beetles.

Old rose, 73.

Orb weavers, 120.

Orchard oriole, 172.

_Osmoderma scabei_, perfumed beetle, 134.

Ovid quoted, 93.

Pansies (_Viola tricolor_):--Great variety of color, 46; trickery of florists; aniline bath, 47; a chemical experiment; astonishing color, 48; ammonia as an agent; coloring an entire plant emerald green, 50; results from the fumes of sulphur matches, 52.

Passion-flower, 189.

Passion-vine, 186.

Perfumed beetle (_Osmoderma scabei_), curious odor of, 133; suggesting Russia-leather; home on the maple-tree; sipping the sap; easily startled, 134.

Pink, 205.

Plant-louse of the apple-tree, 236.

Pliny, 64, 114, 116, 252.

Pollen bearers, 30.

_Polyphemus._ See Moths.

_Polyporus_, 144.

Preservation of food by wasps, 256.

Primrose ash, 73.

Professor of biology, 70.

"Professor Wiggler," what a florist's window suggested; the lilac-bush his home, 73; his characteristics, 74; how he came to be named; bringing him up by hand, 75; lively capers, 76; five changes of clothes; voracious feeding, 77; how he retains his head-shells, 78; digging out a home, 79; home completed; skilful concealment; what comes from the cocoon, 81; burrowing habits, 82.

Puff-balls, 136; its purple cloud, 136; rapid change of substance; its cloud mass of reproductive atoms, 137; same results from mushrooms and toadstools, 138.

Pungent odors, 132.

"Quaker." See Grasshopper.

"Racer," 85.

Red Admiral. See Butterflies.

"Red-hot child of nature," 92, 96.

Redstart, 176.

Red-tailed hawk, 152, 153.

Riddles in flowers, 202; curious specimens; botanists and philosophers, 204; pollen-carrying, 207; galaxy of white or blue stars, 208; variety of construction, 209; solving the riddle, 211.

Riley, C. V., quoted, 254.

"Robin's pin-cushion," 43.

Roland for an Oliver, 59.

Roots, becoming stems and bearing leaves, 87.

Rose garden, 126.

Roses, blue, 45, 46; green, 187.

Rosy moth, 85.

Rowen-field, 116, 218.

Sabbath sanctuary bouquet, 26.

Sacred "scarabæus," emblem of immortality, 53.

Sage blossom, its welcome to the bee, 221.

Sand-hornet:--Prospecting for game, 249; the capture, 250; manner of transporting its prey, 251; its color and terrible sting, 252; not to be trifled with; its home in the sand-bank, 253; deposits its egg and leaves, 254; its mysterious poison, 256.

_Scrophularia_, figwort, 28.

Semicolon. See Butterflies.

Sheep-spit, 84.

Singular mimic fruit, 42.

Small speckled beetle, 86.

Smilax, 188.

Snake expert, 67.

Snake stories, 65.

Snake-spit, 84, 85.

Snapping beetle. See Beetles.

"Snowin' 'pider-webs," 113.

Sphinx caterpillar (_Chærocampa pampenatrix_) with his burden, 241, 242; the mischief-maker (_Microgaster_), 245.

Spice-bush, 131, 132.

Spiders, webs one hundred feet long; autumn best time for observation, 106; precocious baby spiders; building a bridge, 108; moored by guy threads, 110; ballooning, 112; at sea, 113.

Sponge-ball, commonly known as Bedegnar, 43.

Sprengel, 166, 202, 206.