The Life of the Grasshopper 



downwards, his head pointing to his mate's 

 tail. With his long, fleshy-shanked hind- 

 legs, he gets a grip of her sides; with his 

 four front legs, often also with his mandibles, 

 he grasps and squeezes the sabre, which pro- 

 jects slantwise. Thus hanging to this sort 

 of greased pole, he operates in space. 



When the meeting takes place on the 

 ground, the couple occupy the same position, 

 only the male is lying on his back in the sand. 

 In both cases the result is an opal grain 

 which, in the visible part of it, resembles in 

 shape and size the swollen end of a grape-pip. 



As soon as this object is in position, the 

 male decamps at full speed. Can he be in 

 danger? Possibly, to judge from what I 

 have seen. I admit that I have seen it only 

 once. 



The bride in this case was grappling with 

 two rivals. One of them, hanging to the 

 sabre, was at work in due form behind; the 

 other, in front, tightly clawed and with his 

 belly ripped open, was waving his limbs in 

 vain protest against the harpy crunching him 

 impassively in small mouthfuls. I had before 

 my eyes, under even more atrocious condi- 

 tions, the horrors which the Praying Mantis 

 had shown me in the old days: unbridled 

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