70 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



with equal ease through any kind of soil, whether of sand or 

 of clay. They first appear on the surface, in the night, and 

 are then white and soft. They crawl up some bush, tree or 

 limb, and wait until the sun dries their shells, which envelope 

 them, This shell bursts on the insect's back, out of which 

 prison the locust crawls. Their bodies are very tender at 

 first, and they cannot then, either crawl or fly far. In this 

 state they remain one night, their bodies still moist, their 

 wings expanding, and during the day following, they begin to 

 fly a few feet, at a time, and by the first night, they can fly 

 several rods. The insect has now arrived at full maturity. 



When the state was first settled by us, and during twenty 

 years afterwards, wild bees were very numerous. The Indi- 

 ans collected great quantities of honey, and sold barrels of it 

 to the white settlers. In the woods along the Ohio river, but 

 more still in the forests immediately around all our prairies, 

 bees lived in the hollow trees. During all the warm weather, 

 these useful and industrious insects hovered over the profusion 

 of wild flowers in these meadows, and flew through the air to 

 and from their homes. Along the intervals of all our rivers 

 among the wild roses and sweet briars, they plied their busy 

 work, spun through the air like so many wires, in right lines, 

 and lulled to rest, the wild man, by their buzzing, humming 

 music. But they are become scarce, and tame bees have not, 

 as yet supplied their place. We rear but few l^cos, and honoy 

 is not often seen in the state. Why, we do not know. 



