The White-faced Decticus: his Habits 



instances elsewhere ; * but with him it is a 

 rude art, falling within the knacker's rather 

 than the anatomist's domain. 



Two or three Blue-winged Locusts are 

 none too many for a Decticus' daily ration. 

 It all goes down, save the wings and wing- 

 cases, which are disdained as too tough. In 

 addition, there is a snack of tender millet- 

 grains stolen every now and again to make 

 a change from the banquet of game. They 

 are big eaters, are my boarders; they sur- 

 prise me with their gormandizing and even 

 more with their easy change from an animal 

 to a vegetable diet. 



With their accommodating and anything 

 but particular stomachs, they could render 

 some slight service to agriculture, if there 

 were more of them. They destroy the Lo- 

 custs, many of whom, even in our fields, are 

 of ill fame ; and they nibble, amid the unripe 

 corn, the seeds of a number of plants which 

 are obnoxious to the husbandman. 



But the Decticus' claim to the honours of 

 the vivarium rests upon something much 

 better than his feeble assistance in preserving 

 the fruits of the earth : in his song, his nup- 



1 Cf. The Life of the Spider and The Hunting Wasps: 

 passim. Translator's Note. 



217 



