THE PERIODICAL CICADA IN
MASSACHUSETTS.

BY C. W. HOOKER.

The old order of cicada includes some five hundred members, and of these North America has her full share, more than one hundred being represented. Four species are commonly found in Massachusetts: Cicada septendecim L., the periodical cicada, or seventeen-year locust; Cicada canicularis Harr., the dogday harvest fly; Cicada sayi and Cicada linnei. Recent investigation by Smith and Grossbeck has shown that what have been called Cicada pruinosa Say and Cicada tibicen L. are really two altogether different species, which they have named Cicada sayi and Cicada linnei. Two others, Cicada rimosa Say and Cicada (Tettigia) hieroglyphica Say, also occur in Massachusetts, but are not common. Cicada septendecim L. comes every seventeen years about the first of June, while the rest are seen every year, Cicada canicularis coming with the beginning of dogdays, Cicada linnei a little later and Cicada sayi in August.

The periodical cicada-Cicada septendecim L.-is peculiarly colored and may be easily recognized. The eyes, legs and larger veins of the wings are of a peculiar reddish-yellow or orange color, the abdomen is marked with bands of the same color, and the rest of the body is jet black. The other cicadas of Massachusetts have in common a general greenish-brown color above and whitish below, but can be readily distinguished by the descriptions of Smith and Grossbeck in "Entomological News" (April, 1907, pp. 116-129).

The periodical cicada is known to occur quite generally through all that part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. None have been taken in Maine or New Hampshire, and only two occurrences are recorded in Vermont. There is a specimen, however, in the collection of the Massachusetts

Agricultural College which is labelled Orono (Me.), in the handwriting of Prof. C. H. Fernald; but Professor Fernald has no recollection of it, and is of the opinion that it probably came from some other place, for this would be the only known case of its occurrence in that State. The rest of New England has parts of several well-defined broods which are more or less important. There are now, in all, according to the latest enumeration Marlatt-thirty broods, seventeen seventeenyear broods, with a general northern distribution, and thirteen thirteen-year broods, which occur in the southern States.

Massachusetts has the honor, or misfortune, of possessing the earliest known record - 1633 - of the occurrence of the periodical cicada. Yet even then the Indians were well acquainted with this periodical visitor, using it as food, and it has probably been used in like manner for centuries. Massachusetts is credited with four broods, and a fifth, just beyond the southwestern boundary, from which members have probably entered the State, though none have been actually reported. These can be easily located from the following table:

Plymouth, 1633; Manomet Point, Wareham, Onset, Sandwich to Dennis, 1770 to 1906.

This brood occurs in Massachusetts in Barnstable and Plymouth counties, its first occurrence in 1633 being the earliest recorded in this country. It appeared near Plymouth in 1633,

soon after the arrival of settlers, arousing considerable fear and apprehension.

The following account is given in Nathaniel Moreton's "New England's Memoriall," and the facts as given are corroborated by Governor Bradford, Rev. Wm. Hubbard and Mr. Prince, in Prince's "Annual." Speaking of a sickness which broke out in and near Plymouth in Massachusetts in 1633, he says: "It is to be observed that the Spring before this Sickness, there was a numerous company of Flies, which were like for bigness unto Wasps or Bumble-bees. They come out of little holes in the ground and did eat up all the green things, and made such a constant yelling noise as made all the woods ring of them, and ready to deaf the hearers; they were not any of them heard or seen by the English in the Country before this time. But the Indians told them that sickness would follow and so it did, very hot in the months of June, July and August of that Summer," viz., 1633. He says: He says: "Toward Winter the sickness ceased," and that it was " a kind of a pestilent Fever."

How widely this brood was distributed at this time cannot be stated, but careful study of more recent appearances shows that this, like most other broods, is slowly but surely decreasing in size. At present it is the largest in Massachusetts, and seems to have held its ground most successfully; this may be due to the more favorable natural conditions of the country it occupies. The brood is, generally speaking, shut into the western part of Barnstable County, on the west by the neck at Buzzards Bay and Sandwich, and on the east by the neck at Barnstable harbor and Yarmouth. Most of the brood is enclosed within these two bounds, but with a little overflow on each side. On the west this overflow extends as far as Manomet Point and Cook's Pond. In 1804 the brood appeared in great numbers 111⁄2 miles west of Plymouth, but no further record of this part of the brood can be found, and it probably soon died out. On the eastern side the overflow extends at least into Dennis.

The brood made its last appearance in 1906. In order to ascertain the exact distribution and abundance of this brood, Dr. H. T. Fernald, through the co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, sent circulars to each town where the cicada might be expected to appear, and from the information received

in this way, and from other sources, the following statement has been prepared:

Letters were also sent to the following places, but no cicadas were reported: Truro, Eastham, Chatham, Harwich, West Brewster, Carver, Rochester, Acushnet, Plympton, Lakeville, Halifax, Dartmouth, Berkley, Hanson, Seekonk, West Duxbury, Attleborough, Campello, Franklin, Stoughton, Mansfield, Pembroke, Norwood, Westwood, Walpole, Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Bellingham, Norwell, Millis, Canton.

From this it will be seen that the brood is generally distributed between Manomet, Wareham and Dennis, being strongest between Sandwich, Bourne, Falmouth and Osterville. In this central part the brood seems to be as strong as ever, but along the outside, in what I have called the overflow, it is gradually running out. It must be remembered, however, that these cicadas in Plymouth and Barnstable counties form only a part of this brood.

In 1889 Riley and Howard gave its extent as follows:

The region commences in southeastern Massachusetts, extends south across Long Island and along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, as far as Chesapeake Bay; then up the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania to a point a little below Harrisburg; thence

northwest in Ohio, embracing the southwestern corner of the State and the northwestern portion of Kentucky, and then upward through southwestern Indiana, ending in central Illinois.

1849. (RILEY, XX.) BROOD VIII.

DUKES. 1917.

Occurrence.

Martha's Vineyard: 15 square miles of Central Plains, 1833 to 1900.

This is one of the smallest broods and covers a quite compact territory, the greater part of which lies in central and western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, with a few localities in northern West Virginia and southwestern New York. Two widely separated swarms listed from Illinois and South Carolina are extremely doubtful, and both are probably based on confusion of some of the annual species with the periodical cicadas. The Massachusetts part of this brood, occurring in Dukes, is also widely separated, but is fully established and has been well recorded since the time of Harris. Dr. Harris records their first appearance in Martha's Vineyard in 1833, while Smith's Register" gives the next in 1849, and Geo. H. Luce of West Tisbury, Mass., states that they were there in 1849-66-83 and 1900. In the "American Naturalist," October, 1883, G. E. Bessey writes:

While driving across "the plains" of the central part of Martha's Vineyard, in the last few days of June of this year, I observed large numbers of the periodical cicadas. The scrub-oaks, which here cover the whole ground, were literally alive with them. The insects were confined to a narrow belt, not exceeding half or three-quarters of a mile in width and of unknown length.

At its last appearance, in 1900, it seemed desirable to ascertain the accuracy of previous observations and learn whether this isolated colony was holding its own. Through the kindness of Mr. Luce it was learned that "the brood was a well-known one and as much in evidence as ever. They were quite numerous, but seemed to confine themselves to a district known as the plains district, a tract of land covered with scrub-oak and very lightly wooded. They could be heard more than a mile, making

-