THE PROCESS OF EGG-LAYING 9 
bases of the hind femora are sunk into the burrow, while 
the middle pair of legs he at its mouth ; 

ibabxneiae, Oe 
Ovipositors of Jola Grasshopper, show- 
ing action during digging; a, anal cercus ; 
b, dorsal ovipositor ; c, ventral ovipositor ; 
d, furcula vulvalis; e, ovipositors closed. 
the front legs 
may touch the ground but 
more commonly they pro- 
ject freely into the air. 
Plate I, Fig. 4 and Plate 
VII, Fig. 1 show a female 
erasshopper sunk in the 
eround and in the act of 
laying eges. In cases where 
burrows are made beside a 
plant stem, the insect 
commonly seizes the base 
of the stem with the front 
two pairs of legs and 
eradually backs downward 
as the burrowing progresses. 
The actual digging is done 
by the two horny pairs of 
ovipositors which are dug into the ground closed and then 
spread out, thus pushing the 
soil ahead of them. ‘The 
posterior end of the body 
is able to rotate through 
180° and so pressure can be 
brought to bear in all direc- 
tions in the burrow, a cylin- 
drical burrow being the re- 
sult. Text-fig. 2 shows the 
boring mechanism. The 
dotted lines mark the posi- 
tion of the ovipositors when 
pushed closed into the soil, 
while the rest of the figure 
shows the ovipositors fully 
extended to thrust the parti- 
cles of soil outward and up- 
ward. Text-fig. 3 shows 
the manner in which the egg 
is pushed out between the 
ovipositors. 


TEXT-FIG. 3. 
Posterior end of female Jola 
Grasshopper showing exit of egg. 
A, first stage, in which egg lies be- 
tween upper and lower pairs of ovi- 
positors. 5, second stage, in which 
egg is grasped between upper pair 
of ovipositors. 
The whole process of burrowing and egg-laying has 
been studied carefully in the laboratory. “The method 
