WARTBITER. 249 



pass to ^ts extremity, and thus be emitted. In consequence 

 of the shape of the ovipositor, some entomologists invented the 

 generic name Phasgonura, or sword-tailed, and placed in it 

 tliis and allied insects. When the young are hatched, an event 

 which takes place in the spring, they are very tiny, but are 

 shaped much like their parents, except that there are no wings, 

 and in the females there is no sign of the ovipositor. This 

 remarkable appendage does not appear until the larvae is seven 

 or eight weeks old, and it increases in size with every change 

 of skin. 



If the reader should possess sufficient skill and time, he 

 should dissect a few specimens of this insect, for the purpose of 

 studying the internal structure. Among other points, one of 

 the most interesting is the ' gizzard.' Before it is opened, it 

 looks very like a swelling of the digestive tube, but if it be 

 carefully slit horizontally, and spread flat, a number of 

 narrow, parallel bands will be seen. On placing one of these 

 bands under the microscope, it will be seen to consist of a 

 number of very small teeth, arranged with perfect regularity, 

 and admirably calculated for triturating morsels of the leaves 

 which have been cut off by the powerful ja^vs, and then swal- 

 lowed. As for the jaws themselves, their power may be easily 

 ascertained, for the insect is generally given to biting ; and if the 

 searcher after knowledge will put his finger in the way of this 

 Grasshoppers jaws, he will at once be convinced both of the 

 sharpness and strength of the jaws. Moreover, he will not 

 feel it necessary to repeat the experiment. 



There is a smaller species of this group, which is closely 

 allied to the Great Green Grasshopper. This is the Tree 

 Grasshopper [Meconema varia), an insect which, as its name 

 implies, is a denizen of trees rather than a dweller on the ground. 

 It is to be found on the oak, and the best mode of obtaining 

 it is to beat the branches and catch the falling insects in a 

 sheet or net held beneath the boughs. Otherwise, there will 

 be much difficulty in detecting its presence, its bright green 

 colour being almost identical in hue with the oak leaves among 

 which it dwells. In this insect the wing-covers of the male are 

 without any stndulating apparatus, so that it is quite silent, 

 and the difficulty of finding it is thereby increased. 



