never dreamt of such victuals, for it lives entirely on the sap of large vegetables. The fables of the poet, who is called in France, one never knows why, "Le bon La Fontaine," teem with errors of the same kind as those we have just pointed out. The habits of animals are nearly always represented as exactly the contrary to what they really are. To initiate himself into the mysteries of the habits of animals, La Fontaine certainly had neither the works of Buffon nor the memoirs of Réaumur, which had not then been written; but had he not the book of Nature?
But it is time to mention the principal species of the Cicada. We will describe two: that of the Ash, which lives on those trees in the south of France; and that of the Manna Ash, which is very common in the south-east of France. It is particularly plentiful in the forests of pines which abound between Bayonne and Bordeaux. It is on these two species of Cicada that Réaumur made the beautiful observations of which we gave a summary above.
The Cicada plebeia or Tettigonia fraxini, very common in Provence, is found, though rarely, in the forest of Fontainebleau, occasionally in La Brie. It is of a grey yellow below, black above; the head and thorax are marked or striped with black.
M. Solier, in a Memoir inserted in the "Annales de la Société Entomologique de France," says that its song, very loud and very piercing, seems to consist of one single note, repeated with rapidity, which insensibly grows weaker after a certain time, and terminates in a kind of whistle, which can be partly imitated by pronouncing the two consonants st, and which resembles the noise of the air coming out of a little opening in a compressed bladder. When the Cicada sings, it moves its abdomen violently, in such a manner as alternately to move it away from, and to bring it near to, the little covers of the sonorous cavities; to this movement is added a slight trembling of the mesothorax.
The same entomologist relates a very interesting observation made on this species of Cicada by his friend, M. Boyer, a chemist at Aix, and which he himself verified. The Cicadas, in general, are very timid, and fly away at the least noise. However, when a Cicada is singing, one can approach it, whistling the while in a quavering manner, and imitating as nearly as possible, its cry, but in such a manner as to predominate over it. The insect then descends a small space down the tree, as if to approach the whistler; then it stops. But if one presents a stick to it, continuing to whistle, the Cicada settles on it and begins again to descend backwards. From time to time it stops, as if to listen. At last, attracted, and, as it were, fascinated by the harmony of the whistle, it comes to the observer himself.
M. Boyer managed thus to make a Cicada, which continued to sing as long as he whistled in harmony with it, settle on his nose. Charmed by this concert, the insect seemed to have lost its natural timidity.
The Cicada orni is of a greenish yellow, spotted with black. The abdomen is encircled by the same colours. The elytra and the wings are hyaline, or glassy, and their veins alternately yellow and brown. The legs are yellow throughout. The song of this species is hoarse, and cannot be heard at any great distance.
M. Solier, in the work we quoted just now, says that the song of this Cicada is of a deeper intonation, but that it is quick and is sooner over. It does not terminate in the manner which characterises that of the other species.
Next the genus Cicada comes Fulgora, whose type is the Fulgora lanternaria, or Lantern Fly ([Fig. 83]).
Belonging to South America, these insects are above all remarkable and easy to recognise, by their very large elongated head, which nearly equals three-quarters of the rest of the body. This prolongation is horizontal, vesiculous, enlarged to about the same breadth as the head, and presents above a very great gibbosity. The antennæ are short, with a globular second articulation, and a small terminal hair. The species represented in [Fig. 83] is yellow varied with black. The elytra are of a greenish yellow, sprinkled with black; the wings, of the same colour, have at the extremity a large spot resembling an eye, which is surrounded by a brown circle very broad in front. It inhabits Guyana. This remarkable insect enjoys a great renown with the vulgar, by a peculiarity which might be called its speciality—the property of shining by night or in the dark. Hence its name of Fulgora lanternaria.