CICADA SONGSTERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

CICADA SONGSTERS

WQO I stopped—and I looked iJ and I listened." The peculiar sound in question was my first impression of Queensland.

Some insect was doing its best, most successfully, to fill the air with sound. Morning, noon and night the shrill,' rapid notes were sustained. Queenslanders have become so accustomed to the song of this insect that they do not notice it. Vfy inquiries at first were unavailing, for people were at a loss to understand exactly Mat my questions referred to. Perhaps it U the "frigi-

flu ire" or the telegraph wiros ? At last my curiosity was satisfied. Oh, that's a large cicada, the Double Drummer! very nptlv named, too. Strangely enough (1 write this from the mi If t \ of in y sanctum) the males alone nre nipuble of producing sound — the females are voiceless and dumb. Mr. Keith ('. McKeown in his fascinating book. "Insect, Wonders of Australia," gi\cs some interesting details concerning the Double Ihumincr. which is a giant, in its way. measuring live Inches with expanded wings. He is a hamlr-ome insect of black and red colouration. On the lower surface of the body I he male lias a pair of membranes or drums under which are |>its provided with parchment like tympana richly supplied with muscles, and extending deep into the bod v of the insect. The method of sound production is complicated, but it. may be likened to the effect of pushing in and out with the lingers I he bottom of a thin tin dish or a kerosene tin. I lie tightly stretched (liiiuis of the cicada may well be compared with I lie bottom of a dish: the action of the lingers being supplied by niiiscles which pull the membrane in mid ~nt producing crackling sounds which becoming more ami more rapid. I,lcu«' utl o one continuous sound. The si,iino amplified by the walls of the cm it v bps'*,tli the membranes and so we ha\c tl. • Itiii'-h screeching sound of the cicada luxe song of the male. There is sour ton lit. as to the manner In which the 1/Siiale k*nra Uie of

the male. Probably she becomes aware of the sound by the vibration of the tissue* of her body, which may be stimulated and excited thereby. The female cicada deposits her eggs in the branches and twigs of trees, forcing them into the bark with her powerfull ovipositor. Upon hatching the young descend and work their way into the ground where they remain for a period of years feeding upon the sap extracted from roots which they extract with their long, pointed mouths.

An American insect, the Seventeenyear Cicada, as the name suggests, spends that lengthy period of its life underground. As summer approaches and the young cicude has completed its larval development, it gradually works its way up to the surface of the soil. At this stage the cicada looks rather like n small lolister, for it is armed with claws oil its fore-limbs and is encased in a strong brownish coat of chitin. On

And Locust Pests

By--A. W. B. Powell

reaching the surface the cicada larva awaits favourable conditions and then climbs a few feet up a tree trunk and digs its claws into the bark. The coat then splits between the shoulders, as it were, and the perfect insist slowly emerges. s|mmiils a little time drying its wings ami then flics away, hi New Zealand the empty skins of cicada larvae still attached to the bark of trees is a familiar sight. Cicadas are often referred to as locusts, but quite incorrectly, for the latter are grasshoppers with character-

istic long hind legs. New Zealand possesses at least ten species of cicadas, the most conspicuous being the large

common one which in the summer is a joyous herald of a warm, fine dav. Plantations of the introduced Pinus insignia are favoured locations of our large cicada. Other species are more local in their distribution; one frequents the high tussock country, another favours the sun-beaten toulders alonf; the banks of streams.

As a singer the cicada was held in high esteem by the old-time Maori, who had a proverb. " J.ike the cicada chirp ing in the eighth month." The cicada, or tarakihi, as they call it, is also the theme of a popular Maori posture song and dance. It is said that the song came to a Maori poet as an inspiration as he was wandering through the forest on a summer afternoon.

Iti warmer lands man through the ages has had to contend with that great destructive agent the true locust, really a large grasshopper. These insects invade territory in such vast swarms that the sky is darkened and wherever they settle every living plant is devoured within a few hours. Even trains and motor cars are brought to a standstill through skidding wheels in contact with the crushed bodies of these insects. In Palestine large scale cam-

paigns liave been in operation for years in an endeavour to check this scourge. Kven Australia is frequently visited l»y locust swarms. ]t is recorded that iii 1U33 in New South Wales hatching beds of locusts occupied it 22.240 acres and within three months with the addition of a second lirood had spread to 2.044.00(1 acres. A third brood hatched out at the end of April, brtt fortunately for the farmer climatic conditions were not favourable for their development. The total loss to graziers from the ,?2.7.'i0.00<> Acres damaged bv the locusts was estimated at £2.<»57.000. Now this migratory plague locust is found in New Zealand also. It is the large flying grasshopper common among parched grass in mid-summer. Last February T saw them in more than usual abundance at Matiatia, Wailieke Island. Fortunately our climate is not favourable to the locust so that we need have no fears of visitations such i\s occurred in New South Wales in 10.'!.'!. The story of the locust, however, is not all blackness, for the people of I'alestine and the Orient recognise its value as food. Locusts are said to contain o!).<>0 per cent of protein, which accounts for the fact that humans eat them. In Palestine they are fried in butter and eaten with gusto, and in that land of strange sights and ways— China —" locust flour " is on sale in the food shops.