The Life of the Grasshopper 



light, ahvays In brief spasms. There Is no 

 mistaking It: here, In these fond lovers of 

 the light, we have a mere expression of hap- 

 piness. The Locust has his mioments of 

 gaiety when his crop Is full and the sun 

 benign. 



Not all the Acridians Indulge In this joy- 

 ous rubbing. The Tryxalis ( TruxaUs jiasuta, 

 Lin.), who sports a pair of Immensely elon- 

 gated hind-legs, maintains a gloomy silence 

 even under the most vigorous caresses of the 

 sun. I have never seen him move his shanks 

 like a bow; he seems unable to use them — 

 so long are they — for anything but hopping. 



Dumb likewise, apparently as a conse- 

 quence of the excessive length of his hind- 

 legs, the big Grey Locust {Pachytilus 

 cinerescens, Fabr.) has a peculiar way of 

 diverting himself. The giant often visits me 

 In the enclosure, even In the depth of winter. 

 In calm weather, when the sun Is hot, I sur- 

 prise him In the rosemaries, wuth his v/ings 

 unfurled and fluttering rapidly for a quarter 

 of an hour at a time, as though for flight. 

 His twirling Is so gentle, In spite of Its ex- 

 treme speed, as to create hardly a percepti- 

 ble rustle. 



Others still are much less well-endowed. 



Z72 



