CICADA, or AMERICAN LOCUST, in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of hemiptera. The beak is inflected; the antennæ are setaceous; the four wings are membranaceous and deflected; and the feet, in most of the species, are of the jumping kind.
The species are fifty-one. The larvæ of several of this genus evacuate great quantities of a frothy matter upon the branches and leaves of plants, in the midst of which they constantly reside. See FROTH-Spit, and CICADULA.