The Life of the Grasshopper 



work, anon on the ground, wearing a preoc- 

 cupied air. Oftener still she stands without 

 moving. The capsule withers a little, but 

 does not decrease notably in volume. There 

 are no more of those mouthfuls which the 

 Ephippiger snatched at the beginning; and 

 the little that has already been removed 

 affects only the surface. 



Next day, things are as they were. There 

 is nothing new, nor on the morrow either, 

 save that the capsule withers still more, 

 though its two red dots remain almost as 

 bright as at first. Finally, after sticking on 

 for forty-eight hours, the whole thing comes 

 off without the insect's intervention. 



The capsule has yielded its contents. It 

 is a dried-up wreck, shrivelled beyond recog- 

 nition, left lying in the gutter and doomed 

 sooner or later to become the booty of the 

 Ants. Why is it thus abandoned when, in 

 other cases, I have seen the Ephippiger so 

 greedy for the morsel? Perhaps because the 

 nuptial dish had become too gritty with 

 grains of sand, so unpleasant to the teeth. 



Another Locustid, the Phaneroptera who 

 carries a short yataghan bent into a reaping- 

 hook (P. falcata, Scop.), has made up to me 

 in part for my stud troubles. Repeatedly, 



298 



