154 



Marvels of Insect Life, 



I HE lU'sir (hi; III' 



[H. Ba 



A common, brown-coloured long-horn, whose favourite haunt is about 

 hedgerows. The present photograph is that of the female, indicated by 

 the sword-shaped egg-placer. 



green colour, and so beautifullv 

 veined as to imitate closely some 

 of the large shining tropical leaves. 

 The body is short, and terminated 

 in the female bv a long, curved, 

 sword-like ovipositor, and the legs 

 are all long and strongly spined. 

 These Insects are sluggish in their 

 motion, depending for safetv on 

 their resemblance to foliage, their 

 horny shield and wing-coverts, and 

 their spiny legs." 



But probably the most re- 

 markable of these protected grass- 

 hoppers is a small species, ^ only 

 a third of an inch long, that is 

 found in the Sudan. With the 

 majority of observers it would 

 easily pass for an ant, and the 

 inference is that ants are abundant 

 where it lives, and this disguise has been brought about as a means of 

 preserving a wingless race of grasshoppers from attack by ants. One of the 

 characters of grasshopper structure is the absence of any well-defined waist, the 

 stout hind-body having a straight under side and being attached to the fore- 

 body by its full width and depth. In ants, as the most superficial of observers 

 must have noticed, these two parts are connected by an exceedingly slender stalk 

 that makes one wonder how the vital machinery necessary can be squeezed into 



so tenuous a strait. This ant-like 

 grasshopper appears at first sight 

 to have such an attenuated junc- 

 tion between fore-bodv and hind- 

 body ; but this is an optical illu- 

 sion brought about b\- nature 

 painting the under side and sides of 

 the grasshopper with white in such 

 a fashion that at a slight distance 

 this portion is not seen and onh' the 

 stalked bo(l\- of an ant remains. 



There arc other remarkable 

 iorms among the long-horns as 

 among the short-horns. .\ few- 

 resemble stick-Insects, ("eitaiii of 

 the wingless species attain a large 

 size and an aspect of ferocity, 

 some of them being very liberally 



1 Myrnicco]ihana iallax. 



Photo by] [H. Bastin. 



int. Bl!5H CutKi'. 



In this photograph the male is shown. The difference between the sexes will 

 be seen at a glance oncomparing the hind-parts. 



