The Life of the Grasshopper 



in my jar have spent two-thirds of the year 

 in a state of comparative dryness. Perhaps, 

 in order to hatch, they lack what grain abso- 

 lutely needs in order to sprout. Animal 

 seeds as they are, they may yet require under 

 earth the moisture necessary to vegetable 

 seeds. Let us try. 



I place at the bottom of somiC glass tubes, 

 to enable me to make certain observations 

 which I have in mind, a pinch of backward 

 eggs taken from my collection; and on 

 the top I heap lightly a layer of very fine, 

 damp sand. The receptacle is closed with a 

 plug of wet cotton, which will maintain a 

 constant moisture in the interior. The 

 column of sand measures about an inch, which 

 is very much the depth at which the ovi- 

 positor places the eggs. Any one seeing my 

 preparations and unacquainted with their ob- 

 ject would hardly suspect them of being in- 

 cubators; he would be more likely to think 

 them the apparatus of a botanist who was 

 experimenting with seeds. 



My anticipation was correct. Favoured 

 by the high temperature of the summer 

 solstice, the Grasshopper seed does not take 

 long to sprout. The eggs swell; the front 

 end of each Is spotted with two dark dots, 



240 



