The Life of the Grasshopper 



portly insect hopping among the stones from 

 one bit of turf to the next. This time, I do 

 not go in search of it: it reaches me by- 

 post. Following my indications, an obliging 

 forester * climbs up there twice in the first 

 fortnight of August and brings me back the 

 wherewithal to fill a cage comfortably. 



In shape and colouring it is a curious 

 specimen of the Grasshopper family. Satin- 

 white underneath, it has the upper part 

 sometimes olive-black, sometimes bright- 

 green or pale-brown. The organs of flight 

 are reduced to mere vestiges. The female 

 has as wing-cases two short white scales, 

 some distance apart; the male shelters under 

 the edge of his corselet two little concave 

 plates, also white, but laid one on top of the 

 other, the left on the right. 



These two tiny cupolas, with bow and 

 sounding-board, rather suggest, on a smaller 

 scale, the musical instrument of the Ephip- 

 piger, whom the mountain insect resembles 

 to some extent in general appearance. 



I do not know what sort of tune cymbals 

 so small as these can produce. I do not 

 remember ever hearing them in their native 



1 M. Bellot, forest-ranger of Beaumont (Vaucluse). — 

 Author's Note. 



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