The Locusts: their Organ of Sound 



One such is the Pedestrian Locust (Pezo- 

 tettix pedes tris, LiN. ), the companion of the 

 Alpine Analota on the ridges of the Ven- 

 toux. This foot-passenger stroUing amid 

 the paronychias {P. serpyllifola) which he 

 spread in silvery expanses over the Alpine 

 region; this short-jacketed hopper, the 

 guest of the androsaces {A. villosa), whose 

 tiny flowers, white as the neighbouring snows, 

 smile from out of their rosy eyes, has the 

 same fresh colouring as the plants around 

 him. The sunlight, less veiled in mists in 

 the loftier regions, has made him a costume 

 combining beauty and simplicity: a pale- 

 brown satin back; a yellow abdomen; big 

 thighs coral-red below; hind-legs a glori- 

 ous azure-blue, v/Ith an Ivory anklet in 

 front. But, being Incapable of going beyond 

 the larval form, this dandy remains short- 

 coated. 



He has for wing-cases two wrinkled slips, 

 distant one from the other and hardly cover- 

 ing the first segment of the abdomen, and 

 for wings two stumps that are even more 

 abbreviated. All this hardly covers his na- 

 kedness down to the waist. Any one seeing 

 him for the first time takes him for a larva 

 and is wrong. It Is Indeed the adult Insect, 



373 



