I have been waiting since July 1 for the song of the cicada, the big black fellow known to science as Cicada strata Fabricius, which usually makes its appearance in the Shanghai area some time between that date and the "Glorious Fourth." In this part of China we have at least five species of cicada, ranging from the foregoing, which with its wings measures the best part of three inches, down to a little emerald green form less than an inch in length. Up to the time of writing, July 5, I have not heard the song of the black cicada, although. on July 2, I found in my garden the apparently newly cast-off skin of a grub, or. nymph, as it should more properly be called, of this species. There seems to be a certain amount of irregularity this year in the appearance of the cicadas, no doubt the result of the very abnormal weather conditions we have experienced, Early in June I heard the shrill song of one of the smaller species, which, as a rule, does not appear till towards the end of that month. My friend, Mr. Harry E. Gibson, informed me about the middle of June that he had found the skins of nymphs of this species in his garden, as well as the little round holes the insects made when they emerged from the ground. As I write I can hear the strident notes of several of these smaller cicadas coming from the trees round my house. Observations I have made during a number ai years in the Shanghai area indicated that the big^black cicada's song is usually first heard on the first really hot day in July. As everybody knows, especially the American members of the community, this more frequently than not occurs on July 4, so that one gains the impression that our Cicada strata is celebrating Independence Day. Perhaps this is as it should be, for it was in the United States that the remarkable phenomenon of the thirteen to seventeen year period that the cicada spends underground in its larval and nymph stages was discovered and proved. This is the reason why the American cicada (Cicada septendecim) is popularly known in that country as the seventeen-year locust. From time immemorial the cicada has attracted the attention, not to say admiration, of man. Its emergence from the ground to sing in the trees and the wonderful transformation it undergoes in the process from a wingless creature of hideous form into one of considerable beauty, seemingly endowed with a great join-de-vive, have given it a symbolical significance beyond almost any other living thing. The Greek poets of old sang its praises and their philosophers saw in it the emblem of immortality. To the ancient Chinese, as far back as the Shang period, fifteen or so centuries before the Christian era, it had a special significance. They portrayed it in their art, making it one of their favourite motifs in the decoration of their bone implements and bronze vessels. Later, in the Han period. it was carved in jade and placed in the mouths of the deceased at burial, it is said, as a symbol of resurrection to a future life. Certainly it is an insect of unusual interest, as will be admitted by all who have read th account of its life history by Fabre, the famous old French naturalist of a century ago—a- DE C, S.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.