THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
205 
made, and the allotted period for their return 
was anxiously waited for. It came at last, and, 
true to their traditions, the new swarms of Cica- 
dcB put in their appearance, and the question 
of their ability to fulfil the conditions of their 
perpetuity was fully verified; they were indeed 
seventeen-year locusts! 
“ Late one autumn a large leathery sack was 
found hanging to a slender branch of a lilac- 
bush. It was no strange or unknown sight, as 
it was at once recognized as the winter home of 
a chrysalis of some Lepidopteran; its enormous 
size was what attracted special notice. The 
sack was of a dingy brown, and much resem¬ 
bled the flesh side of a piece of hemlock-tanned 
sole leather. It was about five inches long, 
pear-shaped, and securely attached to the limb. 
It may be inferred that the object was watched 
with great solicitude during the long months of 
winter, a season which proved to be of unusual 
severity. The cold was excessive, the ther¬ 
mometer several times falling below zero, and 
varied by occasional storms of sleet, during 
which the swinging habitation was thickly en¬ 
crusted with ice, causing much fear lest the 
sleeping pupa within should be destroyed. 
