ORTHOPTERA. 



299 



appear in the month of July and disappear at the beginning of the 

 cold weather. Towards the end of summer their song is heard in 

 the meadows and wheat fields. The females, summoned by the 

 males, are not long in coupling and laying their eggs, which do not 

 hatch until the following spring, in the ground. After four months 

 the larvce change into pupae, which already show rudimentary wings, 

 and which by a fifth month pass into the perfect state. 



The Great Green Grasshopper (Locusta viridissima) is very com- 



307. Bectic 



mon in Europe. It remains during the day on trees, and in the 

 evening disports itself in the fields. 



The Decticus vcrrucivorus (Fig. 307) is a shorter and more thick- 

 set species, whose distinctive feature is a very broad head. Its 

 colour is grey of various shades, and it is to be heard singing during 

 the day in fields of ripe wheat. The name comes from the use 

 made of it by the peasants in Sweden and Germany as' a cure for 

 warts. 



" The peasants," says Charles de Geer, " make these locusts bite 

 the warts which they often have on their hands, and the liquid which 

 at the same time flows from the insect's mouth into the wound causes 



