The Life of the Grasshopper 



is usually russet, with brown patches. A 

 few more elegant ones edge the corselet 

 with a whitish hem which is prolonged over 

 the head and wing-cases. The wings are 

 colourless except at the base, where they are 

 pink; the hinder shins are claret-coloured. 



The mother selects a suitable spot for her 

 eggs on the side where the sun is hottest and 

 always at the edge of the cage, whose wire- 

 work supplies her with a support in case of 

 need. Slowly and laboriously she drives her 

 clumsy drill perpendicularly into the sand, 

 this drill being her abdomen, which disap- 

 pears entirely. In the absence of proper 

 boring-tools, the descent underground is 

 painful and hesitating, but is at last accom- 

 plished thanks to perseverance, that powerful 

 lever of the weak. 



The mother is now installed, half-buried 

 in the soil. She gives slight starts, which 

 follow one another at regular intervals and 

 seem to correspond with the efforts of the 

 oviduct as it expels the eggs. The neck 

 gives throbs that lift and lower the head 

 with slight jerks. Apart from these pulsa- 

 tions of the head, the body, in Its only visible 

 half, the fore-part, is absolutely stationary, 

 so intense Is the creature's absorption in her 



38a 



