The Life of the Grasshopper 



has delicate, parallel veins running in an 

 oblique direction. The dorsal surface has 

 stronger and more prominent nervures, of a 

 deep-black colour, which, taken together, 

 form a strange, complicated design, bearing 

 some resemblance to the hieroglyphics of 

 an Arabic manuscript. 



By holding it up to the light, one can see 

 that it is a very pale red, save for two large 

 adjoining spaces, a larger, triangular one 

 in front and a smaller, oval one at the back. 

 Each is framed in a prominent nervure and 

 scored with faint wrinkles. The first, more- 

 over, is strengthened with four or five 

 chevrons ; the second with only one, which is 

 bow-shaped. These two areas represent the 

 Grasshoppers' mirror; they constitute the 

 sounding-areas. The skin is finer here than 

 elsewhere and transparent, though of a 

 somewhat smoky tint. 



The front part, which is smooth and 

 slightly red in hue, is bounded at the back 

 by two curved, parallel veins, having between 

 them a cavity containing a row of five or 

 six little black wrinkles that look like the 

 rungs of a tiny ladder. The left wing-case 

 presents an exact duplicate of the right. 

 The wrinkles constitute the friction-nerv- 



328 



