Insect Study 367 



they fly high in the air and for long distances, a fact recorded in the Bible 

 regarding the plague of locusts. When they thus appear in vast hordes, 

 they destroy all the vegetation in the region where they settle. 



The wings of grasshoppers vary in color, those of the red-legged species 

 being gray, while those of the Carolina locusts are black with yellow edges. 

 The abdomen is segmented, as in all insects, and along the lower side there 

 are two lengthwise sutures or creases which open and shut bellows-like, 

 when the grasshopper breathes. The spiracles or breathing pores can be 

 seen on each segment, just above this suture. 



The grasshopper has its ears well protected; to find them, we must 

 lift the wings in order to see the two large sounding disks, one on each side 

 of the first segment of the abdomen. These are larger and much more 

 like ears than are the little ears in the elbows of the katydids. 



The singing of the short-horned grasshoppers is a varied performance, 

 each species doing it in its own way. One species makes a most seductive 

 little note by placing the femur and tibia of the hind legs together, and 

 with the hind feet completely off the ground, the legs are moved up and 

 down with great rapidity, giving off a little purr. The wings in this case, 

 do not lift at all. There are other species that make the sound by rubbing 

 the legs against the wing-covers. 



The grasshopper makes its toilet thus : It cleans first the hind feet by 

 rubbing them together and also by reaching back and scrubbing them 

 with the middle feet ; the big hind femur it polishes with the bent elbow 

 of the second pair of legs. It cleans the middle feet by nibbling and 

 licking them, bending the head far beneath the body in order to do it. It 

 polishes its eyes and face with the front feet, stopping to lick them clean 



between whiles, and it has a most comical 

 manner of cleaning its antennae; this is 

 accomplished by tipping the head sidewise, 

 and bending it down so that the antenna of 

 one side rests upon the floor; it then plants 

 the front foot of that side firmly upon the 

 antenna and pulls it slowly backward between 

 the foot and floor. 



The grasshopper has some means of defence 



^ as well as of escape ; it can give a painful nip 



Grasshopper cleaning tts ... ., j-ui j u A -t- 



antenna with its mandibles; and when seized, it emits 



copiously from the mouth a brownish liquid 



which is acrid and ill-smelling. This performance interests children, 

 who are wont to seize the insect by its jumping legs and hold it up, 

 commanding it to "chew tobacco." 



Grasshoppers are insects with incomplete metamorphosis, which 

 merely means that the baby grasshopper, as soon as it emerges from the 

 egg, is similar in form to its parent except that it has a very large head 

 and a funny little body, and that it has no quiet stage during life. When 

 immature, the under wings or true wings have a position outside of the 

 wing-covers and look like little fans. 



The short-horned grasshoppers lay their eggs in oval masses protected 

 by a tough overcoat. The ovipositor of the mother grasshopper is a very 

 efficient tool, and with it she makes a deep hole in the ground, or sometimes 

 in fence rails or other decaying wood; after placing her eggs in such a 

 cavity, she covers the hiding place with a gummy substance so that no 



