TWO STRANGE GRASSHOPPERS 



With his weakness for Locusts, and also for certain 

 seeds that are harmful to unripe corn, these Grasshoppers 

 might be of some service to agriculture if only there were 

 more of them. But nowadays his assistance in preserv- 

 ing the fruits of the earth is very feeble. His chief 

 interest in our eyes is the fact that he is a memorial of 

 the remotest times. He gives us a vague glimpse of 

 habits now out of use. 



It was thanks to the Decticus that I first learnt one 

 or two things about young Grasshoppers. 



Instead of packing their eggs in casks of hardened 

 foam, like the Locust and the Mantis, or laying them 

 in a twig like the Cicada, Grasshoppers plant them like 

 seeds in the earth. 



The mother Decticus has a tool at the end of her 

 body with which she scrapes out a little hole in the soil. 

 In this hole she lays a certain number of eggs, then 

 loosens the dust round the side of the hole and rams it 

 down with her tool, very much as we should pack the 

 earth in a hole with a stick. In this way she covers up 

 the well, and then sweeps and smooths the ground above 

 it. 



She then goes for a little walk in the neighbourhood, 

 by way of recreation. Soon she comes back to the place 

 where she has already laid her eggs, and, very near the 

 original spot, which she recognises quite well, begins the 



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