The Green Grasshopper 



that the great business of pairing Is at hand. 

 The fact will escape no practised eye. 



It is also what I particularly wish to ob- 

 serve. My chief object In stocking my cages 

 was to discover how far the strange nuptial 

 manners revealed by the White-faced Dec- 

 tlcus might be regarded as general. My wish 

 is satisfied, but not fully, for the late hours 

 at which events take place did not allow me 

 to witness the final act of the wedding. It 

 is late at night or early in the morning that 

 things happen. 



The little that I see is confined to 

 interminable preludes. Standing face to 

 face, with foreheads almost touching, the 

 lovers feel and sound each other for a long 

 time with their limp antennae. They suggest 

 two fencers crossing and recrossing harmless 

 foils. From time to time, the male stridu- 

 lates a little, gives a few short strokes of the 

 bow and then falls silent, feeling perhaps 

 too much overcome to continue. Eleven 

 o'clock strikes; and the declaration is not yet 

 over. Very regretfully, but conquered by 

 sleepiness, I quit the couple. 



Next morning, early, the female carries, 

 hanging at the bottom of her ovipositor, the 

 queer bladderlike arrangement that surprised 



293 



