GRAPE GRASSHOPPER. 



GRAPE. The fruit of the cultivated vine, so well 

 known as to need no description. For the cultiva- 

 tion see article VINE. 



GRAPE HYACINTH is the Muscari of Des- 

 fontaiae, and the Hyacinth us muscari of Linnaeus, a 

 common flower-border bulb. 



GRAPSUS (Lamarck). A genus of crustaceous 

 animals belonging to the Decapoda Brachyura, and to 

 the section Quadri/ateres of Latreille, having the shell 

 or carapax nearly square, the legs Hat, the eyes placed 

 upon short foot-stalks at the anterior angles of the 

 shell, and the antennae covered by the front of the 

 latter. The abdomen is seven-jointed in both 

 sexes. These crabs, of which many species are de- 

 scribed, are, with a single exception, inhabitants of 

 the seas of the East and West Indies. At Cayenne 

 they are called ragabeuruba, that is, soldiers. During 

 the day they hide themselves under stones and other 

 bodies in the sea ; some, however, frequent rivers 

 subject to the tide, but these generally are found upon 

 the moist banks out of the water. It is said that 

 they even climb up the trunks of trees, and seek re- 

 fuge beneath the bark. They assemble in consider- 

 able numbers, and at the approach of danger retire to 

 the water, striking their claws against each other with 

 violence during their retreat. The only European 

 species is the Grapsus marmoratus of Fabricius, which 

 is found upon the coasts of France and England. 



GRASSHOPPER. The ordinary name given to 

 an extensive group of insects, forming portions of the 

 great Linnseau genus, GRVLLUS (which see), and 

 distinguished by the power which they possess of 

 leaping to a considerable distance. In our article 

 upon the CEHCOPID^E, we have entered at some 

 length into the various saltatorial powers possessed 

 by insects, and have shown that in the greater num- 

 ber it is to the peculiar construction of the hind legs 

 that they are indebted for such powers. In the in- 

 sects now under consideration this is particularly the 

 case, and as they are abundant in the summer and 

 autumn months in every field and upon every bank, 

 no insects are more easily discovered, owing to their 

 perpetual chirping, nor are any more capable of 

 showing the beautiful mechanism with which the 

 motions of the insect world are provided than these. 

 For rapid motion through the air with closed wings, 

 it is proper that the body of an insect should present 

 in its form as little resistance as possible ; we lind, 

 therefore, the body of the grasshopper long and 

 compressed. But it is the instruments by which this 

 motion is imparted to the insect which now especially 

 merit our attention. These are the hind legs, which 

 are attached to the body, nearly in the centre, at the 

 sides, by means of very powerful muscles, and which, 

 instead of being short and formed for laying hold of 

 objects, like the four anterior and intermediate legs, 

 are longer than the entire body, and seem, when the 

 insect is merely creeping about, to be dragged along 

 without assisting in progression. The thigh is the 

 strongest part of the legs, its basal portion being the 

 thickest, and it gradually becomes more slender to 

 the tip. Along its outer surface there are several 

 ridges, which must evidently impart considerable 

 strength to the limb, and the space between these 

 ridges is likewise ornamented with oblique ridges, 

 which give it a beautiful appearance. On looking at 

 the limb from behind, a depressed space is observed 

 along its entire length, margined on each side with 

 strong spines, of which we shall subsequently notice 



C67 



the use ; the shank,is more cylindric and slender than 

 the thigh, smooth internally, but generally spined on 

 its outer edge, and armed at its extremity with several 

 very strong short spurs. This part of the limb is of 

 the same length as the thigh, and is terminated by a 

 short jointed tarsus, having two strong claws at the 

 tip. We will now suppose the insect creeping upon 

 the ground, and suddenly menaced by the approach 

 of danger. For the avoidance of this danger it is 

 necessary that a sudden spring should be made, and 

 it is also necessary that for doing this the body 

 should be thrown upwards in a greater or less angle, 

 according to the distance to be gained. Now this is 

 effected in a very peculiar and interesting manner ; 

 the thigh, in its ordinary position, is placed at an 

 obtuse angle with the front part of the body, and the 

 tarsus is placed at an obtuse angle with the shank ; 

 thus : 



Great Green Grasshopper. 



the tip of the shank or tibiae is then suddenly brought 

 into contact with the base of the thigh, being retained in 

 its position during the subsequent stroke by means of 

 the spines upon the margins of the hinder edge of the 

 thigh ; but the tarsus is, during this operation, kept 

 in an horizontal position ; the obtuse angle, therefore, 

 between it and the external extremity of the shank 

 becomes, by degrees, a right angle and then an acute 

 angle ; the more the thigh is lowered the more acute 

 being the angle between the tibia and tarsus ; by this 

 means the strong spurs at the extremity of the tibia 

 are fully exposed and brought into action, being now, 

 in fact, the support of the hind part of the body, and 

 offering a very firm point upon the plane of position. 

 A violent stroke is then made by the muscles of the 

 hind thighs, the body is prevented from moving in a 

 backward direction by the spurs of the tibia, and the 

 body is accordingly propelled forwards and upwards, 

 in proportion to the angle made by the tarsus and the 

 tip of the tibia. But the grasshopper is often assisted 

 in its motions by other organs, for no sooner is it in 

 the air than it expands a pair of wings of a delicate 

 gauzy texture, which had been previously folded up 

 by means of many longitudinal wing-ribs, arranged 

 like the ribs of a fan, beneath a pair of narrow wing- 

 covers, often elegantly marked and coloured. We 

 have been thus particular in explaining the mode by 

 which the leaping of the grasshopper is effected, 

 having only met with a short and insufficient expla- 

 nation of it in the works of writers upon popular en- 

 tomology. 



We have said that the grasshopper is easy to be 

 traced, from the chirping noise which it makes, but it 

 is necessary to notice that it is only by one sex, the 

 males, that this noise is produced. The same peculiarity 

 also exists in the not less noisy CICADA (which see), 

 although the apparatus by winch the sound is pro- 



