4 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 691. 
Abandoned fields, turn rows, the undisturbed strips under fences, 
along neglected roadsides (see fig. 8), and on banks of irrigating 
ditches, and buffalo sod along the edges of infested fields are favorable 
places for egg laying. 
DEVELOPMENT. 
The eggs hatch about the time of the last spring frosts, when warm 
weather is assured. The young grasshoppers push upward to the 
surface and soon begin feeding on the nearest vegetation. At first 
they are from one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch in length and 
almost white. Exposure to light and air soon develops dark patches 
Fic. 5.—Differential grasshopper laying eggs. Enlarged. (Original.) 
in the skins, which make them difficult of detection when resting on 
soil or dead vegetation. Under favorable weather conditions the 
grasshoppers increase rapidly in size. The old skins stretch, are 
finally ruptured, and the young insects escape. This is the process 
known as molting and occurs five times before the grasshoppers are 
full grown. The newly acquired skins are very elastic for a short 
period after molting, and during this time there is a further rapid 
increase in size. The wing pads on the sides of the body above the 
legs become larger with each molt, the wings being fully developed 
after the last molt has taken place. 
