Marvels of Insect Life, 



there is not such difficulty, for tlie antennas of the sliort-horns never have 

 mce tluin fhirtv joints ; wliilst tliose of the long-horns never have nearly so 

 few as thirty joints, being mostly as long as, or longer than, the body. The 

 active little grasshoppers of our fields are short-horns ; so are the locusts that 

 migrate in vast armies and inflict agricultural ruin wherever they settle. But with 

 a strange perversity, the high priests of entomology have distinguished the long-horn 

 family by a name that appears to indicate that the all-devouring locusts are 

 included in it — which is quite the opposite of the fact. The Cambridge Natural 

 History makes the matter worse by speaking of " the Insects called locusts in popular 

 language," which seems to imply that the users of " popular language " have 

 misappropriated a scientific name, whereas it is science that has misapplied a folk- 

 name that has been in use for ages. Of these locusts we shall have occasion to 

 speak in a separate article : it is sufficient now to make it clear that they are 



simply large grass- 

 hoppers of the 

 short-horned kind 

 that have g r e- 

 garious habits and 

 the migratory 

 instinct. 



Grassh o p p e r s 

 belong to the great 

 order ^ of Insect life 

 that includes the 

 cockroaches, ear- 

 wigs, stick-Insects, 

 and crickets. These 

 are all characterized 

 by a gradual deve- 



Pkotoby] iH.BasHn. lopmcnt from the 



Carpenter-Bee's Hind-Body. egg to the fully- 



A longitudinal section of the hind-body to show the situation of the mite-chamber. A is the part winffcd COnditloil 



containing the internal organs. B is the special compartment for the mites, and the needle is o 



thrust through the entrance. The arrow marks the point of attachment to the fore-body. without anV rCStln"' 



period : they are active throughout life — the wings growing gradually as the Insects 

 increase in size. These wings are four in number and constitute two distinct pairs. 

 The upper pair (or wing-covers) are of a parchment character ; the lower ones 

 are finer and more delicate. The mouth-parts are formed for biting. The grass- 

 hoppers share these characters with all the other families of the order. There is 

 one other they have in common with the long-horns and the crickets only : that 

 is, the great development of the hind pair of legs, which are very long, and the broad 

 thigh is broadest near its base. It is to this development, and the power of the 

 muscles attached to these limbs, that the leaping ability for which they are famed 

 is due. 



Grasshoppers leave the egg in the same form practically as that of their mature 

 parents, the only difference being the absence of wings. The first indication of 



^ Orthoptera. 



