The cicada larvae are born in the stems of large asphodel-type herbaceous plants, in twigs, or in branches where the nymphoid larvae also cling to perform their final imaginal molt. By scanning these grasses at the end of summer, it is, therefore, possible to witness white larvae the size of a rice grain when the cicada eggs hatch and before the young cicadas bury themselves for several years. Plants are also dotted with cicada exuviae (photo), envelopes of dead skin that they leave for their first flight.