The Life of the Grasshopper 



on hopping. I have seen some who, though 

 half-eaten, kick out desperately and suc- 

 ceed, with a supreme effort, in releasing 

 themselves and jumping away. In the brush- 

 wood, that would be so much game lost. 



The Decticus seems to know all about it. 

 To overcome his prey, so prompt to escape 

 by means of its two powerful levers, and to 

 render it helpless as quickly as possible, he 

 first munches and extirpates the cervical 

 ganglia, the main seat of innervation. Is 

 this an accident, in which the assassin's choice 

 plays no part? No, for I see the murder 

 performed invariably in the same way when 

 the prey is in possession of its full strength; 

 and again no, because, when the Locust is 

 offered in the form of a fresh corpse, or 

 when he is weak, dying, incapable of de- 

 fence, the attack is made anywhere, at the 

 first spot that presents itself to the assailant's 

 jaws. In such cases the Decticus begins 

 either with a haunch, the favourite morsel, 

 or with the belly, back or chest. The pre- 

 liminary bite in the neck is reserved for 

 difficult occasions. 



This Grasshopper, therefore, despite his 

 dull intellect, possesses the art of killing 

 scientifically of which we have seen so many 



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