348 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



spread apart. The grayish brown color of the body exactly 

 harmonized with the seasoned surface of the wood on which 

 she was stationed. I soon found that she had her abdomen 

 completely buried in the wood, and was in the position of laying 

 her eggs. In about twenty minutes she withdrew her abdomen 

 part way, and moving about four inches forward, she endeavored 

 to find another spot suitable for ovipositing. The wood being 

 quite hard, she tried various other spots, without being satisfied. 

 I was curious to know whether she had laid her eggs here, and 

 so, with the use of a pocket knife, the decayed wood was cut 

 away at one side of the burrow, ^^^lat was my surprise to 

 find that the hole made by the locust's ovipositor led into a 

 cavern within the stumj), which was filled with small brownish 

 ants. xVt once they were set in motion, and commenced to 

 swarm out of the opening that I had enlarged with the knife, 

 going here and there, evidencing the greatest excitement. In 

 less than five minutes the whole surface of the large stump was 

 swarming with ants. After they had examined the surround- 

 ings, they .seemed to realize that the danger to them had passed, 

 and, little by little, they ran back into the hole. These ants 

 had blackish abdomens, which they carried erect at a right 

 angle to the body. They showed great fearlessness. 



No one will doubt this was a luckless spot for the sj)rinkled 

 locust to lay her eggs. That she intended to oviposit in, and 

 was interrupted, was shown from the fact that her body upon 

 dissection was afterwards found to contain sLxtecn matured 

 eggs. In one instance I observed two at the same time, at 

 work on an old weather-beaten block of pine wood, lying on 

 the ground. A female was busily occupied on each end when 

 I discovered them. One of the locusts tried her o\ii)ositor 

 in at least five places without being satisfied, and finally 

 de|)arted into the grass. The other, working in the shadow, 

 succeeded in finding a suitable wet i)lace on the wood, and made 

 a burrow. This individual, in the operation of boring the wood 

 and laying her eggs, occupied about four hours' time. On 

 cutting away the wood, I found that the hole was on a slight 

 slant away from the insect. It was one inch deep and con- 

 tained fourteen eggs. 



That the time consumed by this species in ovipositing varies 



