The Life of the Grasshopper 



causes the long wings lying on the ground to 

 rumple and open out. The operation lasts 

 for a good hour. 



At last the abdomen rises, little by little. 

 It is now near the surface, in a favourable 

 position for observation. The valves are 

 in continual movement, whipping a mucus 

 which sets in milk-white foam. It is very 

 similar to the work done by the Mantis when 

 enveloping her eggs in froth. 



The foamy matter forms a nipple at the 

 entrance to the well, a knob which stands 

 well up and attracts the eye by the white- 

 ness of its colour against the grey back- 

 ground of the soil. It is soft and sticky, but 

 hardens pretty soon. When this closing 

 button is finished, the mother moves away 

 and troubles no more about her eggs, of 

 which she lays a fresh batch elsewhere after 

 a few days have intervened. 



At other times, the terminal foamy paste 

 does not reach the surface; it stops some 

 way down and, before long, is covered with 

 the sand that slips from the margin. There 

 is then nothing outside to mark the place 

 where the eggs were laid. 



Even when they concealed the mouth of 

 the well under a layer of swept sand, my 

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