210 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



the wood had been cleared off, and hence it is believed 

 they were all that time in the ground at those places. 

 But this is not proof that they have passed 16-17 

 years in the earth. When they come out, they bring 

 a thin, transparent coat of exactly their shape. In 

 this coat they crawl to the nearest bush, tree, or other 

 fixed body, stick themselves fast, and extract them- 

 selves from their shell through an opening from the 

 shoulder to the fore-part of the head. Of these empty 

 hulls there are found numbers fixed to trees, fences, 

 and strong grass-stalks. These locusts furnish many 

 animals with a gluttonous fare ; hogs and chickens 

 especially fatten on them ; and the Indians, it is said, 

 eat them at times as delicacies. During their breeding 

 season, throughout the summer almost, they make 

 from morning until evening a loud, incessant noise, 

 so that wherever they are numerous in the woods 

 hardly anything else can be heard. (Cicada septemde- 

 cini. Linn.) Another insect, of the cricket species, 

 makes nearly as much noise ; they call them about New 

 York ' Katy did's ' + and ' Katy did's not,' from the 

 similarity of their shrill note to those words. They 

 come every year and are heard throughout the summer 

 until late in the fall. 



The road to Hummelstown was mostly level ; 

 through nothing but woods, and we saw few houses. 

 A skunk ran straight across the road ; our dog gave 

 chase, but sure of his defence the skunk by no means 

 doubled his pace, trotted quietly on, and all at once 

 gave the worrisome dog his entire stinking cargo. 

 The dog was close behind ; at the opportunity the 

 skunk raised his tail, turned it over his back, but made 

 no use of it, as is elsewhere stated, in squirting the 



