104 LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 



In about six or seven weeks after the eggs 

 are deposited, they hatch, and the little insects 

 creep out and enter the ground. There they often 

 attach themselves to the tender roots of grasses 

 and other vegetables, and, it is supposed, live 

 upon the moisture from their surfaces. Thus 

 they live and grow for seventeen years, and when 

 this long under-ground life is over, they come 

 up out of the earth, as their parents did before 

 them, burst the shell which covers them, enjoy 

 for a few weeks the air and sunshine in their 

 new state of existence, lay their eggs, and die. 



Locusts are eagerly sought after by various 

 kinds of animals. Rats and hogs hunt them out, 

 and eat them before they leave the ground ; and 

 as soon as they make their appearance, they are 

 devoured by squirrels and birds. A friend of 

 mine tells a curious story of a duck, which had 

 swallowed so many living locusts, that they 

 made a loud noise and violent struggling in its 

 throat. But having once secured its prisoners, 

 it had no disposition to release them, and kept 

 them down despite their efforts to escape. 



It is said the Indians think them an excellent 

 dish when fried. 



