The Life of the Grasshopper 



teasing of the passers' antennas. The ditties 

 become fainter from day to day and occur 

 less frequently. In a fortnight the insect is 

 dumb. The dulcimer no longer sounds, for 

 lack of vigour in the player. 



At last the decrepit Decticus, who now 

 scarcely touches food, seeks a peaceful re- 

 treat, sinks to the ground exhausted, 

 stretches out his shanks in a last throe and 

 dies. As it happens, the widow passes that 

 way, sees the deceased and, breathing eternal 

 remembrance, gnaws off one of his thighs. 



The Green Grasshopper behaves similarly. 

 A couple isolated in a cage are subjected to 

 a special watch. I am present at the end of 

 the pairing, when the future mother is carry- 

 ing, fixed to the point of her sword, the 

 pretty raspberry which will occupy our atten- 

 tion later. 1 Debilitated by recent happen- 

 ings, the male at this moment is mute. Next 

 day, his strength returns; and you hear him 

 singing as ardently as ever. He stridulates 

 while the mother is scattering her eggs over 

 the ground; he goes on making a noise long 

 after the laying is done and when nothing 

 more is wanted to perpetuate the race. 



1 Cf. Chapter XIV. of the present volume. — Translator's 



Note. 



228 



