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Show NO REAL SIMILARITY EXISTS BETWEEN PERIODICAL CICADA AND GRASSHOPPER Above, Periodical Cicada or So-called Seventeen Year Locust Below, Real Locust Lo-cust or Grasshopper H'n i m...i by (he United shim department depart-ment of Agriculture ) This Is a "locust yenr," and the usual popular fear and misapprehension misapprehen-sion attend. People In that large part of the Culled States over which the periodical periodi-cal cicada will appear are disposed, as always, to apprehend greater damage dam-age t linn will occur mnny times greater. Of the remainder of the Cnlted States, large sections are under another misapprehension, which Is that the Insect nbout to appear Is the real locust that sometimes comes In devastating dev-astating hordes, sweeping across large sections of country and devouring devour-ing every green thing. The latter misapprehension mis-apprehension Is, perhaps, the more widespread ami disquieting, according to entomologists of the United States department of agriculture. People vvho have had experience with the real locust lo-cust and the ruin It works never forget, and the word "locust," even though It be a misnomer, Is likely to i a signal for dread. Now, the periodical cicada, commonly com-monly called the 17-year locust the Insect thnt will appear In 2 states this spring Is not w locust at all. It Is a cicada, member of the family of elcadldae nnd akin to the dog day cicada, harvest fly. or dry-weather fly. The real locust the devastating kind Is a grasshopper. The periodical cicada, miscalled locust, lo-cust, Is strictly an American Insect. The real locust, commonly called grasshopper, grass-hopper, occurs In many parts of the world and has hail Its place In history for thousands of years. There nre many species. The achiatoearca pere-grlna pere-grlna Is the one that plaucil the E0'l-tlnns E0'l-tlnns and probably the one on which John the Baptist fed. The one that tins sometimes ravnged the great plnlus and other sections of the Culled States Is the melauoplus spretus. n related species. Have Little in Common. The real locust or grasshopper anil the so called locust or periodical cicada have ery little in common nothing. In fact, except that both occur In large numbers and both occasionally have been used ns human food, the former mostly hy certain peoples of the near Bast and the latter hy the American Indians. The real locust Is an lndiscriimnnte eater, gnln fields, corn fields, uit'Ud-ows. uit'Ud-ows. pastures, weed patches everything every-thing falls hefore him. The periodical cicada or so called locust Is dainty almost al-most beyond belief. It was long believed be-lieved that this Insect In the ndult stage took no nourishment ut all. On rare occasions It had been observed with Its beak apparently thrust Into twigs, hui It was not until 17 years ago the last previous appearance of the large hrood thnt comes oTlt this year, thai It wns definitely determined that this belief wns erroneous. The "l"vear locust" does eat while In the ml n 1 1 singe, but Its diet Is confined to the Imces of plants, sucked out In very small quantities and without causing appreciable Injury to piii,-, Ho far as periodicity : mmreaks Is Concerned, the real I list Of grnss-boppei grnss-boppei Is a laa unto Itself. The hordes may appear any years or not at all. The hordes of the "17-year locust" or iwrloilicnl cicada appear with a regu larlu I hat would almost put to shame a government clock. In spite of their extremely slow development under ground, the multiplied millions of Individuals In-dividuals reach maturity and emerge almost at the same moment and exactly ex-actly 17 years from the date of the previous appearance that Is, If they are of the 17 year race. There Is a III-yenr III-yenr race of the periodical cicada Hut It Is Just as regular, Just as exactly on schedule, as the other one. Real Locust a Nomad. The real locust Is a sort of nomadic militant. Its hordes, like those of Atll In the Hun or of Oenghls Khan, sweep hither and you. always on the move, destroying as they go. The so-called 17-veiir locust or dentin Is n home body. Stevenson's lovnble character. "Will n' the Mill," did not stick so closely to his birthplace ns does the periodical cicada. Literally, he abides always "under his own vine and fig tree." The tree from which any Individual In-dividual cicada dropped as a newly-hatched newly-hatched larvn 17 years ago Is the ex act tree under which he will emerge this spring, up which he will most likely crawl to cast his pupal skin, am! In which he will ktaat tils mat and sing his love song, in which he will pass his days of decrepitude, and from I which. In a few weeks, his deed 'nMly I will fall, almost upon the Ipot where he as a larva fell 17 years befort ' nnd burrowed Into the ground. Vher 1 the periodical elendn came luto el it I enee. there he spend bis da. "'I i dies Injury by Insect. Kvery crop suffers from the lavage-of lavage-of the real locust. Only trees suffei nt all from the 17-year bcust, and nly very young fruit nnd ornamental trees are likely to be severely Injured Methods of preventing or minimizing this loss have been worked out nnd published by the T'nlted Sfntes depart incut of agriculture. The insect Itself can accomplish comparative! little damage, but fear of the Insect may accomplish n great dent, particularly If It Is has I upon a confusion of the cicada locust with the grasshopper-locust. Men. believing that the grasshoppers are to eat uji their crops this spring, might refrain from planting certain things It I' Important, therefore, that the conn slon he cleared up. that It be definitely understood hy everybody that "the IT year locust In lltlft" mi-inn the periodl eg dentin and not hordes of grnss hoppers. |