22 THE GRASSHOPPER 



Certain beetles eat dead flesh or bury dead animals 

 by tunneling under them. Such insects are helpful. 

 We should study insects in order to find out which 

 are our friends and which our enemies. It would not do 

 to kill all kinds of insects, for in many cases we should 

 harm ourselves. 



13. Economic Phases of the Grasshopper. — The grasshopper 

 eats the leaves of plants, and if there are many grass- 

 hoppers, they cause a serious loss of crops. The plague of 

 locusts mentioned in the Bible refers to grasshoppers. In 

 some of the Western States years ago the grasshoppers 

 came in great swarms year after year and destroyed 

 annually crops estimated to be worth 1200,000,000. 

 But ordinarily, owing to the activities of their natural 

 enemies, the number of grasshoppers does not become 

 alarming. 



Among the natural enemies of these insects that do much 

 toward reducing their number are the birds. Some of 

 the greatest destroyers of grasshoppers are the quail, blue- 

 bird, sparrow hawk, butcher bird, crow, red-winged 

 blackbird, and kingbird. The crows, because of their 

 large size and great numbers, probably kill the most 

 grasshoppers. 



Other members of the order of Orthoptera, that are 

 more or less harmful, are the cockroaches, the nuisances 

 of the pantry, and the crickets that eat the roots of plants. 

 There are also tree crickets which frequently lay their 

 eggs in raspberry cane and kill the cane above the place 

 where the egg is laid. 



14. What has an Animal like the Grasshopper Accomplished 

 by Living? — (1) It has used plants as food to build a 

 complex body. (2) It has produced more grasshoppers. 

 (3) It has used some stored-up food which might have 

 been useful to cattle or sheep. (4) It has set free waste 



