138 KLEMKXTARY STTDIES IX IXSECT LIFE 



ground. As the female grasshopper lays the eggs, slie 

 places an impervious glutinous coating around them. 

 This glutinous material hinds the eggs together and 

 surrounds them so as to form a water-proof pod molded 

 to the shape of the hole which the insect has made. If 

 the ground is disturbed in the spring these egg-pods 

 will be broken up, exposed to the sun and rain, to sud- 

 den changes in the weather, to birds, and to other insects. 

 All of these conditions are highly injurious to the life 

 of the embryonic grasshopper, and few of these insects 



FIG. 110. A beneficial insect. Praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) eating live 

 grasshopper which it has captured with its strong, spined fore legs natural size. 

 Photographed from life by M. V. Slingerland. 



will hatch on ground thus treated. If the ground is not 

 disturbed the eggs protected from the winter snows and 

 spring rains by this water-proof coating will hatch; 

 and as small nymphs the young insects will find their 

 way to the surface to begin their work of devastation. 



