THE GREEN GRASSHOPPER 27 



tation. Nothing is left of him but the wing-cases, head 

 and legs. The result is the same with the magnificent 

 , plump Pine Cockchafer (Melolontha fullo, Lin.), a 

 sumptuous morsel which I find next day eviscerated by 

 my gang of knackers. 



These examples teach us enough. They tell us that 

 the Grasshopper is an inveterate consumer of insects, 

 especially of those which are not protected by too hard 

 a cuirass; they are evidence of tastes which are highly 

 carnivorous, but not exclusively so, like those of the 

 Praying Mantis, who refuses everything except game. 

 The butcher of the Cicadas is able to modify an exces- 

 sively heating diet with vegetable fare. After meat and 

 blood, sugary fruit-pulp; sometimes even, for lack of 

 anything better, a little green stuff. 



Nevertheless, cannibalism is prevalent. True, I never 

 witness in my Grasshopper-cages the savagery which is 

 so common in the Praying Mantis, who harpoons her 

 rivals and devours her lovers; but, if some weakling suc- 

 cumb, the survivors hardly ever fail to profit by his car- 

 cass as they would in the case of any ordinary prey. 

 With no scarcity of provisions as an excuse, they feast 

 upon their defunct companion. For the rest, all the 

 saber-bearing clan display, in varying degrees, a pro- 

 pensity for filling their bellies with their maimed com- 

 rades. 



In other respects, the Grasshoppers live together very 

 peacefully in my cages. No serious strife ever takes 

 place among tliem, nothing beyond a little rivalry in the 

 matter of food. I hand in a piece of pear. A Grass- 



