32 plint's NATURAL HISTOET. [Book XI. 



even, wealthy and affluent as they are. They prefer the 

 male before it has had sexual intercourse, and the female 

 after ; and they take 1 their eggs, which are white. They en- 

 gender with the belly upwards. Upon the back they have 

 a sharp-edged instrument, 2 by means of which they excavate 

 a hole to breed in, in the ground. The young is, at first, 

 a small maggot in appearance, after which the larva assumes 

 the form in which it is known as the tettigometra? It bursts 

 its shell about the time of the summer solstice, and then takes 

 to flight, which always happens in the night. The insect, 

 at first, is black and hard. 



This is the only living creature that has no mouth ; though 

 it has something instead which bears a strong resemblance to 

 the tongues of those insects which carry a sting in the mouth : 

 this organ is situate in the breast 4 of the animal, and is em- 

 ployed by it in sucking up the dew. The corselet itself forms a 

 kind of pipe ; and it is by means of this that the achetse utter 

 their note, as already mentioned. Beyond this, they have 

 no viscera in the abdomen. When surprised, they spring 

 upwards, and eject a kind of liquid, which, indeed, is our 

 only proof that they live upon dew. This, also, is the only 

 animal that has no outlet for the evacuations of the body. 

 Their powers of sight are so bad, that if a person contracts 

 his finger, and then suddenly extends it close to them, they 

 will come upon it just as though it were a leaf. Some authors 

 divide these animals into two kinds, the " surcularia," 5 which 

 is the largest, and the " frumentaria," 6 by many known as the 

 " avenaria;" 7 this last makes its appearance just as the corn is 

 turning dry in the ear. 



(27.) The grasshopper is not a native of countries that are bare 

 of trees — hence it is that there are none in the vicinity of the 

 city of Cyrene — nor, in fact, is it produced in champaign coun- 



1 "Correptis" seems a preferable reading to "conrupti," that adopted 

 by Sillig. 



2 The female has this, and employs it for piercing dead branches in which 

 to deposit its eggs. 



3 The " mother of the grasshopper." 



4 The trunk of the grasshopper, Cuvier says, is situate so low down, that 

 it seems to be attached to the breast. With it the insect extracts the juices 

 of leaves and stalks. 



5 Or " twig-grasshopper." G Or " corn-grasshopper." 

 7 Or " oat-grasshopper." 



