VARIOUS small semi appear in the spring. But the first of the big semi
to make itself heard is the _haru-zemi_ ("spring-semi"), also called
_uma-zemi_ ("horse-semi"), _kuma-zemi_ ("bear-semi"), and other names.
It makes a shrill wheezing sound,--_ji-i-i-i-i-iiiiiiii_,--beginning
low, and gradually rising to a pitch of painful intensity. No other
cicada is so noisy as the _haru-zemi;_ but the life of the creature
appears to end with the season. Probably this is the semi referred to in
an old Japanese poem:--
Hatsu-semi ya!
"Kore wa atsui" to
Iu hi yori.
--TAIMU.
The day after the first day on which we exclaim, "Oh, how hot
it is!" the first semi begins to cry.
[Illustration: PLATE II.
"_Shinne-Shinne_,"
Also called _Yama-Zemi_, and _Kuma-Zemi_.]