LIFE HISTORY 



15 



ours, nor does it breathe through its mouth. On each 

 side of the body are found a number of regularly arranged, 

 small openings, spiracles (spir'a-k'ls), which lead into * 

 branching tubes, traehece (tra/ke-e). These tubes carry 

 air to all parts of the body in order that the cells may be 

 able to take the oxygen from the air and give carbon 

 dioxide to it. The cell process in which oxygen is used 

 and carbon dioxide formed is called respiration. See 

 section 6, page 3. 



7. Reproduction and Life History. — In the autumn, the 

 female grasshopper lays her eggs in a hole which she 

 makes in the ground. 

 The eggs remain in the 

 hole until the following 

 spring, when they hatch 

 into wingless grasshop- 

 pers. Their bodies are 

 covered by a firm skin, 

 called the exoskeleton, 

 which does not increase 

 in size as the grasshop- 

 pers grow, so this skin 

 must be shed to allow 

 room for growth. 



Young grasshoppers, like young children, grow rapidly; 

 therefore the grasshoppers have to shed their skeleton often 

 and grow a new and larger one. The scientific term for this 

 shedding of the old skeleton and the growing of a new is 

 molt (molt). In the early spring and summer, the young 

 grasshopper molts again and again, each time growing 

 a little more like the adult grasshopper. This process 

 of growth takes three or four months. After the last 

 molt, it has wings and can fly, and so is a full-grown 

 grasshopper. 



Figure 9. 



a, Grasshopper laying Eggs ; b. Egg- 

 capsule ; c, Eggs. 



