FOR YOUNG READERS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23318, 2 May 1941, Page 2

FOR YOUNG READERS

NATURE NOTES CICADAS—INSECT SINGERS [By L. W. McCASKILL.] Several specimens of the local green cicada have been sent in during the last month with requests for the correct name. They were referred to variously as locust, cricket,' and grasshopper, all incorrect. The cicadas belong to an entirely different family from these three. The sudden appearance ih hot weather, the mystery Of the feeding habits, and the musical ■ability of cicadas have excited man’s interest from the .earliest times. Aristbtle first described their habits; •Homer find Virgil frequently mentioned them; some of the Greek poets lauded these insects to the skies as the symbol of the nobility of their race. “They not only addressed poems to it and struck medals bearing its image, but they also ate it” Aristotle declared it to be a great delicacy. :It was. andV still, is in parts .of Earbpe, a common thing to keep cicadas in cages for. the> sake of their song. This practice led .to the early discovery that only the males sang. This information was perpetuated in a couplet by Xenarchus, art ungallant Poet'of Rhodes: Happy the cicadas’ lives, For they all have voiceless wives. Any Cicada may be reeoghised by the broad head, the torpedo-shaped body, the prominent eyes, ahd the characteristic wings, the front pair much longer than" the rear ones. The mouth parts consist mainly of a tubular “beak,” specially adapted for sucking sap, which seems to be the sole food. Cicada’s “Music Box’* The song of the male is produced in a most complicated organ; If the under side of the abdomen is examined a lid may be seen covering the “music box,” On bending back the bodya little a chamber, is exposed, in this chamber iis a brilliant* transparent “mirror.” and above this a tightly stretched membrane. Usually called the drum. On the drum are ridges to which'are attached muscles which, If tightened, cause the drum to bend. Slackening . the muscles causes the drum to spring back again with a clicking noise. Rapidly repeated. this noise makes the song of the cicada, The mirror and chamber seem to act as resonators, ' increasing the volume of sound. . . ~ The singing occurs mainly m the hottest hours of the day. Only one New Zealand species, our largest, ever sings before dawn. All others- wait for the sun. Japanese' kinds are evidently similar ih this respect, as witness an Oriental poet: Lo! on .the topmost pine, a solitary cicada Vainly attempts to clasp one last red beam of sun. When not in use, the egg‘laying apparatus of the female lies hidden in a groove Ih the abdomen. As the insect clings to a branch or leaf, the feggplacer is thrust frequently through the leaf, resulting in an unmistakable herring-bone pattern'. Matty hundreds of eggs are laid at a time. Marram grass, cocksfoot, ryegrass, bracken fern, all kinds of shrubs and trees, even a hoe handle have been recorded as having eggs laid In them. In the case of the hoe the handle was so damaged that it had to be sandpapered before it could be used. Years Underground when the young hatch they descend to the ground and commence a burrowing existence. They can burrow In the hardest soil by the aid of the front pair of legs, which are modified for cutting and digging. The length of time spent in i this underground fctage varies, and is naturally difficult to determine accurately. In some New Zealand species it is probably three years; in the case of one American kind it is 17. When fully developed the nymph leaves the ground and climbs up into the sunlight on the trunk of a tree. All soil is carefully cleaned off the claws and the nymph then takes a firm grip of the bark. . The skin cracks bn the thorax, the head is pulled pack,- and the perfect insect emerges leaving the empty skin fixed to the bark. To the Maori, the cicada, or tarakihi. was the sweptCst singer of all the song birds. It was also known as the “Bird of Rehua,” this god being the lord of kindness and plenty—an allusion to the fact that cicadas are more numerous in a hot summer, a time of good harvest.