The large and
singing cicada is by some designated the 'chirper', and the small
cicada the 'tettigonium' or cicadelle. And, by the way, such of the
tettigonia as are divided at the waist can sing just a little.
The cicada is not found where there are no trees; and this
accounts for the fact that in the district surrounding the city of
Cyrene it is not found at all in the plain country, but is found in
great numbers in the neighbourhood of the city, and especially where
olive-trees are growing: for an olive grove is not thickly shaded. And
the cicada is not found in cold places, and consequently is not
found in any grove that keeps out the sunlight.
The large and the small cicada copulate alike, belly to belly. The
male discharges sperm into the female, as is the case with insects
in general, and the female cicada has a cleft generative organ; and it
is the female into which the male discharges the sperm.
They lay their eggs in fallow lands, boring a hole with the
pointed organ they carry in the rear, as do the locusts likewise;
for the locust lays its eggs in untilled lands, and this fact may
account for their numbers in the territory adjacent to the city of
Cyrene.
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