196 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. XIII 



turned them out in their chrysalid state. By the 

 24th they had begun to arise from the earth, burst 

 their transparent covering, and expand their wings. 

 From this time to the 10th of June their numbers 

 daily increased, until woodlands and orchards were 

 filled with countless multitudes ; a continual singing 

 or screaming was kept up by the males, from sun- 

 rise till evening, and so loud that on a calm morning 

 the sound was heard a full mile. 



" They appeared only in situations which were 

 covered with trees, as was the fact when they were 

 here in 1812, thereby proving that they had not 

 wandered far in their journey of seventeen years. 

 The earth was perforated like a riddle with holes 

 about a third of an inch in diameter. In an orchard 

 in this town, the observer counted twenty-five holes 

 in a square foot ; and an intelligent friend told him 

 that he had seen more than double that number in 

 the same space. When the trees were not near 

 each other, the ground underneath them was covered 

 with their skins or cast-off" robes to the depth of two 

 or three inches. These shells retain the exact figure 

 of the insect when it leaves the earth, with a rent on 



the back, through which the cicada creeps, as from 

 a coat of mail, and then firmly fastened by the feet 

 to the bark and twigs of trees and bushes until it is 

 thrown down by the wind or rain, instinct leading 

 it to seek the nearest tree, bush, or post, as soon as 

 it leaves the earth : there it remains until it has left 



