INTERNAL vSTRUCTURE. 75 



whatever muscular force it is capable of to draw out the end 

 of the abdomen and its long hind legs (Fig. 43 c). This in a 

 few more minutes it finally does and with gait as unsteady 

 as that of a new-dropped colt, it turns round and clambers 

 up the side of the shrunken, cast-off skin, and there rests 

 while the wings expand and every part of the body hardens 

 and gains strength — the crooked wings straightening and 

 the wings unfolding and expanding like the petals of some 

 pale flower. The front wings are first rolled longitudinally 

 to a point, and as they expand and unroll, the hind wings, 

 which are tucked and gathered along the veins, at first curl 

 over them. In ten or fifteen minutes from the time of extri- 

 cation these wings are fully expanded and hang down like 

 dampened rags. From this point on, the broad hind wings 

 begin to fold up like fans beneath the narrower front ones, 

 and in another ten minutes they have assumed the normal 

 attitude of rest. Meanwhile the pale colors which always 

 belong to the insect while molting have been gradually 

 giving way to the natural tints, and at this stage our new- 

 fledged locust presents an aspect fresh and bright. If now 

 we examine the cast-ofl" skin, we shall find every part entire 

 with the exception of the rupture which originally took place 

 on the back ; and it would puzzle one who had not witnessed 

 the operation to divine how the stiff" hind shanks of the ma- 

 ture insect had been extricated from the bent skeleton left 

 behind. They were in fact drawn over the bent knee-joint, 

 so that during the process they were doubled throughout 

 their length. They were as supple at the time as an oil- 

 soaked string, and for some time after extrication they show 

 the effects of this severe bending by their curved appearance. 

 "The molting, from the bursting of the pupa skin to the 

 full adjustment of the wings and straightening of the legs of 

 the perfect insect, occupies less than three quarters of an hour, 

 and sometimes but half an hour. It takes place most fre- 

 quently during the warmer part of the morning, and within 

 an hour after the wings are once in position the parts have 



