tion by a
powerful muscle attached to its inner surface and passing thence
downwards to the floor of the thoracic cavity. Although no auditory
organs have been found in the females, the song of the males is believed
to serve as a sexual call. Cicadas are also noteworthy for their
longevity, which so far as is known surpasses that of all other insects.
By means of a saw-like ovipositor the female lays her eggs in the
branches of trees. Upon hatching, the young, which differ from the adult
in possessing long antennae and a pair of powerful fossorial anterior
legs, fall to the ground, burrow below the surface, and spend a
prolonged subterranean larval existence feeding upon the roots of
vegetation. After many years the larva is transformed into the pupa or
nymph, which is distinguishable principally by the shortness of its
antennae and the presence of wing pads. After a brief existence the pupa
emerges from the ground, and, holding on to a plant stem by means of its
powerful front legs, sets free the perfect insect through a slit along
the median dorsal line of the thorax. In some cases the pupa upon
emerging constructs a chimney of soil, the use of which is not known. In
one of the best-known species, _Cicada septemdecim_, from North America,
the lifecycle is said to extend over seventeen years. Cicadas are
particularly abundant in the tropics, where the largest forms are found.
They also occur in temperate countries, and were well known to the
ancient Greeks and Romans. One species only is found in England, where
it is restricted to the southern counties but is an insect not commonly
met with.

CICELY, _Myrrhis odorata_ (natural order Umbelliferae), a perennial herb
with a leafy hollow stem, 2 to 3 ft. high, much divided leaves, whitish
beneath, a large sheathing base, and terminal umbels of small white
flowers, the outer ones only of which are fertile. The fruit is dark
brown, long (3/4 to 1 in.), narrow and beaked. The plant is a native of
central and southern Europe, and is found in parts of England and
Scotland in pastures, usually near houses. It has aromatic and stimulant
properties and was formerly used as a pot-herb.

CICERO, the name of two families of ancient Rome. It may perhaps be
derived from _cicer_ (pulse), in which case it would be analogous to
such names as _Lentulus, Tubero, Piso_. Of one family, of the plebeian
Claudian _gens_, only a single member, Gaius Claudius Cicero, tribune in
454 B