Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/285

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CICADA SEPTENDECIM.
279

of the body black; the metathorax edged with yellow; breast and legs deep yellow, more or less spotted with black; abdomen black beneath, each segment with a band of brownish yellow; the hemelytra are transparent, slightly tinged with yellow; the costa and nervures deep yellow; under wings unspotted, deep yellow at the base, the nervures likewise of that colour, Nymph of a uniform brown, the legs reddish yellow.

This insect is a native of North America, and has obtained the name Septendecim from being supposed to make its appearance in large numbers every seventeenth year. This statement was first made by Kalm, and more recent travellers admit that appearances give some countenance to the notion. An interesting account of it will be found in C. J. Latrobe's Rambler in South America.


FULGORA LATERNARIA.

Plate XXII. Fig. 1.

Fulgora Laternaria, Linn.—Roesel ii. Locust xxviii.—Merian's Surinam Ins. Pl. 49. Stoll's Cicad. Pl. 1. fig. 1.

This genus is, in several respects, one of the most remarkable belonging to the present order. It was first established by Linnæus, under the name Laternaria, an appellation which he subsequently changed to Fulgora. Both these terms were suggested by the supposed luminous properties of many of the species, which, at that time, seemed to be admitted on the most satisfactory evidence. As originally constituted, the genus comprehended many kinds