ACRIDIODEA. 201 



female, with the valvular processes at the extremity of 

 her abdomen, excavates a hole in the soil and there 

 places the eggs, providing them at the same time with 

 a protective covering, thus giving a hint of relation- 

 ship between the Acridiodea and the Blattodea, which, 

 Ave have seen, place their eggs in a horny pouch. J. 

 Iviinckel d'Herculais ('Comptes Rendus,' cxix, pp. 244- 

 247) describes the method of egg-laying pursued by 

 an Acridian grasshopper, and J. L. Hancock (' The 

 Tettigidae of Xortli America ') does the same for an 

 American species of the genus Teii'lc. After hatching- 

 there are some half-dozen ecdyses, the wings gradually 

 developing as the insects grow to their full size. As 

 in the preceding groups there is little post-embryonic 

 development, the insects being nymphs from the time 

 of hatching till they reach maturity. In this stap;e it 



O i/ / O 



is often not easy readily to distinguish one species from 

 a nearly allied one. 



Food appears to be in general of a vegetable nature. 

 Most of our species eat grass, holding on to a blade 

 with their legs and biting downwards along its edge. 

 The Tetrigidge, however, are something like earth- 

 worms in the nature of their, food. They seldom 

 browse off higher plants but confine their attention 

 chiefly to lichens, mosses, and the surface-soil, which 

 contains various forms of low plant-life. 



To everyone the " song ' of the grasshopper is 

 familiar, and every naturalist will appreciate the 

 words of the poet Keats, who says : 



" When all the birds are faint with the hot sun. 

 And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run 

 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead ; 

 It is the grasshopper's. . . ." 



The chirp is produced by the rubbing together of the 

 outer surface of the elytron and the inner surface of 

 the hind femur. A series of small teeth on the latter 

 scrape against a projecting vein on the former, and 

 thus produce the sound, as may easily be tested 

 experimentally with a recently killed insect. 



