NEWLY EMERGED ADULT CICADAS DRY THEIR WINGS ON A TREE IN ARLINGTON.
Newly emerged adult cicadas, seen at different stages of drying their wings, wait on a tree in Arlington, Virginia May 12, 2004. Billions, probably trillions, of cicadas are emerging this month across the eastern United States in a monster swarm known as Brood X or brood 10. "Brood X is likely to be the largest insect emergence on Earth," said Keith Clay, a cicada expert at Indiana University. Starting this week, across much of the eastern United States, from Georgia north to southern New York and as far west as Illinois, the cicadas will emerge from their 17 years of sucking on tree roots underground to engage in a two-week orgy of calling, mating, laying eggs and then dying. REUTERS/John Pryke JDP/SV