324 Marvels of Insect Life, 



these comes after the grasshopper has thrown off its second skin. After the third 

 moult these are more evident, but until the final change of skin they are mere buds, 

 the incipient wings being short and folded within a firm envelope. After the last 

 moult they are free from their wrappings, and rapidly expand to their full size, 

 afterwards being folded along the back and sides. Such a course of development 

 is known as partial or incomplete metamorphosis. It is only possible to those 

 Insects in which there is no change, but only a development, of their mouth-parts 

 and their digestive svstem. This enables them to continue the process of nutrition 

 whilst their wings are developing. The first appearance of the wing-buds marks 

 the beginning of the pupa stage, but as we cannot fitly use the term pupa or chrysaHs 

 where the Insect is active, it is known as a nymph until it has got fully developed, 

 free wings. There are some species in which the wings are never developed. 



The grasshoppers have both compound and simple eyes, but in the long-horns 

 the latter are often imperfectly developed, and two of the three may be wanting. 



Photo by] [E. Step, F.L.S. 



Two-coloured Grasshopper. 



One of the most familiar of the "common grasshoppers," abounding in meadows, on heaths, etc. .■\lthough not good runners, 

 owing to the impediment of their long hind-legs, they get along with rapidity by making long leaps and spreading their wings. 

 Their colour — a mixture of green and brown — is such as makes them quite inconspicuous. Nearly twice the actual size. 



As the grasshoppers are musical Insects it is not surprising that they should have 

 ears to enable them to appreciate the notes of their fellows. Here, again, there 

 is considerable difference between the short-horns and the long-horns, for whereas 

 the former carry their ears on the back at the base of the hind-body, the latter 

 have theirs in the shank of the front pair of legs, a little below the knee. Other 

 Insects do not possess these organs; and, seeing that only the males produce sounds 

 it has been by some thought strange that ears have not been restricted to the females. 

 There is no doubt, however, that it is important for the maintenance of rivalry 

 between males that these should hear the enchanting strains their ri\'als are 

 producing. A singular fact is this : that species which to the human ear appear 

 incapable of sound-production are provided with ears. This is thought to indicate 

 that these apparently silent species do produce sounds in realitv, but that they 

 are too fine to be appreciated by our ears. The short-horns produce their music 

 by scraping the big thigh over the wing-cover. 



The eggs of the grasshoppers are laid in masses in the ground, tlie female 

 long-horns having a cutlass-shaped egg-placer for this purpose. The short-horns 



