HABITS OF LOCUSTS. 



189 



peculiar call. Like the other families of saltatorial Orthoptera, 

 the males alone of the Acrididre have musical organs, which is 

 quite the reverse among some animals higher in the scale of life, 

 where the females make most of rhe music and oftentimes much of 



the noise. 



"Happy the locusts' lives, 



Since they all have noiseless wives." 



The great majority of Acrididne in the latitude of Indiana pass 

 the winter in the egg stage, the eggs being deposited by the mother 



insect in early au- 

 tumn. When ready to 

 oviposit she forms a 

 hole in the ground or 

 other nidus to a depth 

 corresponding to the 

 length of her abdomen. 

 The eggs are then de- 

 posited one at a time 

 to the number of 30 to 

 : (50, being placed in 

 regular order in this 

 jjjofKMsz=' hole. During the pro- 

 laying eggs. (After cegg R ghltinOUS fluid 



is emitted around them 



which at length hardens and binds them together, thus forming 

 a beau-shaped mass. The hole above the mass is then closed with 

 dirt intermixed with this fluid which, when it hardens, renders it 

 partially impervious to water. However, if the winter is an open 

 one with numerous changes of temperature, many of the eggs are 

 apt to be destroyed. By far the larger number of eggs are depos- 

 ited in the earth in the 



manner shown in Figs. ! 1 <? 



(50 and 70. A few spe- 

 cies, however, oviposit 

 in rotten or decaying 



wood. About mid- April 

 the eggs begin to hatch 

 and the sprightly little 

 insects, devoid of wings 

 but otherwise like their 

 parents, are soon seen on every hand. 



Fig. 69. 

 Rilev.) 



Locust in the act 



Fig. 70. Egg mass of locust, a, from the side, with- 

 in burrow: b, from beneath: c. from above; en- 

 larged. (After Riley.) 



