S30 INSECTA-GRASSHOPPER. 



animals of this order are said to chew the cud, as tiey so much resemble 

 ruminating animals in their internal conformation. 



A short time after the grasshopper assumes its wings, it fills the meadow 

 with its note which, like that among birds, is a call to courtship. The 

 male only of this tribe is vocal; and upon examining it at the base of the 

 wings, there will be found a little hole in its body, covered with a fine 

 transparent membrane. This is thought by Linnaeus, to be the instrument 

 it employs in singing; but others are of opinion, the sound is produced by 

 rubbing its hinder legs against each other ; however this may be, the note 

 of one male is seldom heard, but it is returned by another; and the two 

 little animals, after many mutual insults of this kind, are seen to meet and 

 fight desperately. The female is generally the reward of victory ; for, after 

 ihe combat, the male seizes her with his teeth behind the neck, and thus 

 keeps her for several hours. 



Towards the latter end of autumn, the female prepares to deposit her 

 burthen ; and her body is then seen greatly distended with her eggs, which 

 she carries to the number of a hundred and fifty. In order to make a pro- 

 per lodgment in the earth for them, nature has furnished her with an instru- 

 ment at her tail, somewhat resembling a two-edged sword, which she ran 

 sheathe and unsheathe at pleasure; with this she pierces the earth as deep 

 as she is able ; and into the hole which her instrument has made, she de- 

 posits her eggs, one after the other. 



Having thus provided for the continuation of her posterity, the animal 

 herself does not long survive ; but, as the winter approaches, she dries up, 

 seems to feel the effects of age, and dies from a total decay. Some, how- 

 ever, assert, that she is killed by the cold ; and others, that she is eaten by 

 worms; but certain it is, that neither male nor female are ever seen 

 to survive the winter. In the mean time, the eggs which have been 

 deposited continue unaltered, either by the severity of the season, or the 

 retardation of the spring. They are of an oval figure, white, and of the con- 

 sistence of horn; their size nearly equals that of a grain of anise; they are 

 enveloped in the body within a covering, branched all over with veins and 

 arteries ; and when excluded, they crack, on being pressed between the 

 fingers; their substance within is a whitish, viscous, and transparent fluid. 



Generally, about the beginning of May, every egg produces an insect, 

 about the size of a flea. These at first are of a whitish color; at the end of 

 two or three days they turn black; and soon after they become of a reddish 

 brown. They appear, from the beginning, like grasshoppers wanting 

 wings ; and hop among the grass, as soon as excluded, with great agility. 



Yet still they are by no means arrived at their state of full perfection ; 

 although they bear a strong resemblance to the animal in its perfect form. 

 They want, or seem to want, the wings, which they are at last seen to 

 assume ; and can only hop among the grass, without being able to fly. The 

 wings, however, are not wanting, but are concealed within lour little 



