“ROARING VOICED” CICADAS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26671, 4 March 1952, Page 6

“ROARING VOICED” CICADAS

INCESSANT NOISE IN PARTS OF NELSON

(From Our O:bn Reporter) NELSON, March 3. The noise made by cicadas in Nelson is now so loud and sustained that it is difficult for two people to converse in ordinary tones when passing under or near trees containing the insects. Dr, D. Miller, chief entomologist at the Uu\ tiiron in.-tuu.e. says the cicadas at Nelson belong to the species ahdwii to trie ims as kihikihiwawa, or “roaring voices." There are 21 species of cicada in New Zealand, according to Dr. Miller. Some are large and others small. The life history of many of these is not well known except in the case of one of the smaller species which has been studied by a member of the institute’s staff in America. The life cycle of some cicadas is as high as 17 years, but Dr. Miller said that none of the New Zealand types had so prolonged an existence. The young insects are hatched from eggs on grass stems and young bark twigs, and drop to and enter the ground, where they feed on the sap 1 of roots. When fully developed, after some years, the young lie dormant for a time and then leave the ground and crawl up Some support. They then split along the' back and the adult. winged cicadas emerge, leaving the' empty husks attached the support.]