ALLIES OF THE RED-LEGGED GRASSHOPPER 17 



species which live on large, elevated, open tracts of desert 

 or semidesert character, where the climate is dry and hot, 

 — for example, such regions as the steppes about the Cas- 

 pian Sea. Perhaps the determining factor in the migration 

 is excessive multiplication and the consequent need for new 

 feeding ground. 



Grasshoppers have been and are used today as food in 

 various parts of the East. The records on the bricks of 

 Babylon and Nineveh show that they were known in early 



Fig. 7. Katydid. (Natural size) 1 



times as food, and they are mentioned among the 

 clean meats in Leviticus xi, 22. They are in com- 

 mon use among the Arabs and the Bushmen ; our own Rocky 

 Mountain grasshopper has been eaten and pronounced quite 

 palatable. 



Sounds. Many grasshoppers produce sounds by rubbing 

 the inner edge of the posterior femur against the outer edge 

 of the first pair of wings. Some grasshoppers produce a 

 noise in flight by the friction of the wings. 



Long-Horned Grasshoppers. In contrast to the grasshopper 

 described in the last chapter there are others which have 

 very long antennae and are therefore called long-horned 

 grasshoppers (Figs. 6, 7). These have thread-like antenna?, 

 much longer than the body. Perhaps the most interesting 



1 From Hunter's Studies in Insect Life. 



