LOCUSTS A^W GRASSHOPPERS (ACRWIID.E). 95 



elongate exserted ovipositor for placing the eggs in 

 suitable positions, but possesses instead four short horny 

 appendages, or gonapophyses, which, from their peculiar 

 structure, are admirably adapted for digging. By means 

 of these, when about to lay, she excavates a hole in the 

 ground ; there is no perforation of the soil, the hinder 

 part of the body is merely forced into it. With the 

 valves closed, she inserts the tips into ground, and by a 

 series of muscular efforts, and the alternate opening and 

 shutting of the valves, in this way it is easy to press 

 the earth aside, and in a few minutes nearly the whole 

 of the abdomen is buried. 



Along with the eggs a quantity of viscous fluid is dis- 

 charged, that binds all the eggs in a mass, and when the 

 last &<gg is laid, the viscous matter continues to be shed, 

 filling up, as with a stopper or cork, the orifice of the 

 cavity. The Rocky Mountain Locust stops the neck of 

 its hole with a compact and cellulose mass of the material, 

 which, though light and easily penetrated, is more or less 

 impervious to water. The operation complete, but little 

 trace is left of it ; most often the frothy secretion rises 

 above the burrow of the Algerian migratory locust. 

 When fresh the mass is soft and moist, but soon the fluid 

 deposited dries, acquiring a firm consistency, and forms 

 an excellent protection to the eggs, corresponding to the 

 more definite capsules of cursorial Orthoptera. 



The insect in ovipositing prefers a hard and compact 



