knowledge of the cicada contains many gaps, these mysterious insects can still stimulate our imagination or lead

us into confusion. At the present time, the cicada is many things to many people: it is a curiosity that should be approached scientifically; it is a source of superstition and dread; it is also little more than an annoying, seasonal inconvenience.

The cicada is a stout, black insect about an inch in length. Various species of this insect can be found all over North of the America. When the cicada is at rest, its large, transparent, veined wings are folded over the top of its body and extend about a quarter of an inch beyond it. Cicada wing veins are and information reddish orange in color, as are its eyes and legs. The front legs are sharp and crablike, allowing the animal to hold tight to the bark of trees. The species of American cicada most written about by scientists and most wondered about by the general public is known as the periodical cicada. Its scientific name is Magicicada septendecim.

Opinions remain divided concerning the amount of harm done by cicadas to trees and to bushes. The Pilgrims who is came to the New World assumed that cicadas were locusts. An army of locusts can destroy acres of greenery in record time by biting and chewing leaves and stems. To the present day, the Pilgrim misidentification of cicadas has stuck, and many people still refer to cicadas as "seventeen-year locusts." Millions of plant lovers use the name as an excuse to fear and detest cicadas. In reality, cicadas can only suck-not bite-tender plant tissue; and adult cicadas eat little if at all during their five to six weeks above ground. According to Jane E. Brody, who writes science articles for The New York Times, the only harm done to trees by cicadas occurs during egg-laying. This egg-laying leads only "to a kind of natural pruning and an injury that all but the young trees can easily withstand." However, Richard Maffei, author of Insects in Your Garden, strongly disagrees. He maintains that "leaves on twigs and branches so punctured usually turn brown, but hang on as an eyesore for weeks before the branch breaks and falls to the ground."

What the cicada does underground for most of its seventeen-year life span was a mystery until fairly recently. In the early part of this century, a man named C.L. Marlett, who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture, decided to find out. He began burying cicada eggs in his backyard and digging them up periodically for observation. He soon found out that the cicada begins life as a tiny nymph about six hundredths of an inch in length. A nymph is an immature insect, before it has fully developed

Of all the phenomena related to cicadas, their song, or-as some call it-their racket, has aroused the most comment. Attached to the underside of a cicada's abdomen is a pair of large drumheads. These drumheads are operated by powerful muscles that set them vibrating. The loud, shrill sound produced has been compared to the creaking of an unoiled door hinge, a jet about to land, or the sound of a car motor about to break down. Of course, the cicada sound with which humans are familiar is actually made by thousands of cicadas singing together, and it has a hypnotic, droning effect.

All in all, the cicada is a creature little understood by most humans. Throughout the centuries it has been misnamed or mistakenly feared. Legend has attributed terrible powers to it. The cicada has been called everything from a plague to an omen of war to a backyard nuis

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