LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 103 



Jlunt M. They have sometimes been very 

 abundant in our public squares, and have even 

 been seen coming up between the bricks of the 

 pavement. 



About a week after leaving the ground, the 

 female locust selects a small branch of a tree or 

 shrub, in which, with a sharp, hard instrument, 

 resembling a knife, attached to the extremity of 

 her body, she cuts a deep groove, deposits her 

 eggs in it, and carefully seals the opening with 

 a sticky cement, with which, as I have told you, 

 insects are provided. Soon after this she dies. 

 Indeed the locust season lasts but a few weeks; 

 and it must seem curious, after having seen 

 them thickly strewn over almost every tree and 

 bush, and listened to the incessant sound of their 

 music, to find they have entirely disappeared, 

 leaving no traces of their wonderful visit except 

 the holes which they have made in the ground, 

 the skins still fastened to the trees, and the 

 withered twigs in which they have deposited 

 their eggs. This is the only injury they commit, 

 and this is of no great importance, for the 

 branches do not always die, unless several deep 

 cuts have been made in them, so as to obstruct 

 the circulation of the sap. 



