The Life of the Grasshopper 



needs a blast of air for its manufactures, the 

 blowing-machine will be there, most inge- 

 niously contrived. This machine the Cica- 

 della possesses at the tip of her abdomen, at 

 the end of the intestine. Here, split length- 

 wise in the shape of a Y, a little pocket opens 

 and shuts in turns, a pocket whose two lips 

 close hermetically when joined. 



Having said this, let us watch the per- 

 formance. The insect lifts the tip of its 

 abdomen out of the bath in which it is swim- 

 ming. The pocket opens, sucks in the air 

 of the atmosphere till it is full, then closes 

 and dives down, the richer by its prize. In- 

 side the liquid, the apparatus contracts. 

 The captive air escapes as from a nozzle 

 and produces a first bubble of froth. Forth- 

 with the air-pocket returns to the upper air, 

 opens, takes in a fresh load and goes down 

 again closed, to immerse itself once more 

 and blow in its gas. A new bubble is pro- 

 duced. 



And so it goes on with chronometrical 

 regularity, from second to second, the blow- 

 ing-machine swinging upwards to open its 

 valve and fill itself with air, downwards to 

 dive into the liquid and send out its gaseous 

 contents. Such is the air-measurer, the drop- 



432 



