INTERNAL ANATOMY. 43 



by means of the strong, horny ovipositor. PI. II., 

 Fig. 1 7 represents three females in the act of oviposit- 

 ing. When the burrow is excavated, the eggs are laid, 

 and a quantity of mucous matter discharged which 

 binds the eggs together and fills all the space not 

 occupied by them. Finally the neck is filled by the 

 same mucous material, and the whole forms an egg- 

 mass or egg-pod. On the left of Fig. 17 the earth 

 has been removed, exposing one egg-pod in place and 

 another being placed : a is an egg-pod taken from the 

 ground and broken open at one end ; a few eggs are 

 lying loosely on the surface at a\ and «" shows where 

 the eggs have been covered. PI. II., Fig. 18 is a side 

 view of the egg-pod within the burrow. The dark 

 outer line represents the earth ; r is the neck. The 

 eggs, averaging twenty- eight in number, are usually 

 laid in four rows, as seen in PI. II., Fig. 19, which is 

 a view from below of the egg-pod removed from the 

 burrow. PI. II., Fig. 20 is a view of the same from 

 above. In Figs. 19 and 20 a portion of the mucus 

 filling the neck is seen. Along the top of Fig. 20 is 

 an irregular channel which is the pathway of the young 

 locust out of the burrow : this is indicated by arrows 

 in Fig. 18. 



The female exhibits care in selecting the ground for 

 the reception of the eggs, preferring hard, compact 

 soil ; ^ yet after the eggs are laid and covered with 

 earth, she apparently concerns herself no more about 

 them, so that when the young locusts come out of the 



1 See Scudder, U. S. Geol Survey of Nebraska, Final Report, 

 p. 258; also Riley, The Locust Plague in the United States^ 

 PP- 7i» 77- 



