STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 167 



bod}^, the antennge drooping down along the face; the large eyes are 

 dark reddish, and the limbs and transverse sutures of the body are 

 banded with red and yellow. 



TPIE HATCHING PROCESS. 



It is a most interesting proceeding to place ripe locust eggs under 

 glass and watch the hatching process with a good microscope. The 

 young atrox pushes oft' the upper portion of the chorion and emerges 

 in his close-litting amnion. His motions are maggotlike, and always 

 upward. When the glass is turned in any other direction, immedi- 

 ately lie changes his course too. It wears the amnion until reaching 

 air and light, though it should require several hours. If ruptured 

 before free, the little fellow becomes stiff, and dies right there. In the 

 amnion he is soft and pliable, and by its aid, curiously disposed, he 

 moves upward with great force. He arranges this tough mantle into 

 loose bands or concentric swellings encircling his body. The lower 

 edge of each band is raised outward, like the flange of a wheel. When 

 expanded the band edges take hold of the earth, while the baby locust 

 pushes his head upward. Advancing the rest of his person by con- 

 tracting its body and drawing it towards his head, it again expands the 

 rings, the flanges cope with the earth, and the head is advanced as 

 before — it may be with great power. Arrived at the surface, the little 

 white fellow, about twenty-hundredths of an inch long, lies on his 

 side a moment, as if resting. Then commences a series of contortions, 

 resulting in the bursting of the amnion across the back of the neck. 

 The slit extends soon around to nearly below the edges, sliding back 

 fore and aft, allowing the facile creature to emerge, the back of the 

 neck first. The forward part of the mantle is soon slipped over the 

 head and face, the antennae and jaws withdrawn, the white, shrivel- 

 ing mantle pushed on downward, while the legs and feet are being 

 ungloved, and in the space of about four minutes the crumpled mass 

 is kicked off the hind feet. The little atrox is born now for the first 

 time. White, limber, and staggering at first, in about fifteen minutes 

 he becomes shining black, iwWy hardened, and as active as ever after- 

 ward. His eyes and head are relatively very large, his face at this 

 stage sloping inward, while there is never a sign of a wing; but sight, 

 hearing, legs, and appetite are wonderfully strong. 



METAMORPHOSIS. 



Most insects, in passing from the egg to the adult state, undergo 

 great changes of form and habits, in some groups so varied at certain 

 stages as to have been taken by the ancients as so many different 

 animals. But there are some whicli, thougli differing greatly, do not 

 pass their changes by decided gradations, and of such is the locust 

 family. There are six stages of growth for the spretus, which have 

 been carefully studied. The afro.r perhaps has the same number, 

 requiring about seven weeks — from the 10th of May to the 1st of 

 July. Insects never grow, in the usual sense; the hard encasing 

 skeleton does not allow of it; but they increase by sudden expan- 

 sions at regular intervals, called molting — a bursting and shedding 

 of the skin. At the last molt it receives its wings and full size, is 

 fitted for procreative functions; is, in fact, fully born and ushered 

 upon the most important stage of life. 



