THE NYMPHS & EXUVIAE

Magicicada nymphs emerge by the thousands, sometimes by the millions.  There are so many of them, they sound like rain hitting the leaf litter as they walk across the forest floor.

After shedding off their old nymphal skins "exuviae," these "shells" of their former selves will often remain clinging to trees for many months long after the adults have already died.  They will serve as the memory of a distant phenomenon that only happens once every 17 years....