96 FIRST BOOK OF ZOOLOGY. 



says that " their instruments may rather be likened to vio- 

 lins, their hind-legs being the bows, and the projecting edge 

 of the wing-covers the strings," and adds that when a grass- 

 hopper begins to play " he bends the shank of one hind-leg 

 beneath the thigh, where it is lodged in a furrow designed 

 to receive it, and then draws the leg briskly up and down 

 several times against the projecting lateral edge and veins of 

 the wing-cover. He does not play both fiddles together, but 

 alternately, for a little time, first upon one, and then on the 

 other, standing meanwhile upon the four anterior legs and 

 the hind-leg which is not employed." 



FIG. 92. Leg of a Grasshopper magnified, showing Ridge of Fine Teeth on the Inside of the 

 Leg, marked a, by which the Insect rasps the Wing ; J, c, Different Views of Eidge of 

 Fine Teeth, highly magnified. 



A figure is here given of the hind-leg of a common grass- 

 hopper, showing the row of minute teeth which occur on the 

 inside of the leg, and which are drawn across the edge of the 

 wing. The pupils may imitate the sound thus produced by 

 drawing a coarse file, or the teeth of a comb, rapidly across 

 the edge of a stiff sheet of paper. 



