THE GRASSHOPPER, &c. 



477 





transparent membrane that covers a hole at 

 the base of its wings. There is still a greater 

 variety in all these with regard to shape and 

 colour. Some are green, some black, some livid, 

 and some variegated ; but many of them do not 

 show all their colours till they fly. Some have 

 long legs, some short, some with more joints, 

 others with fewer. Some sing, others are mute: 

 some are innocent, doing no damage to the 

 husbandman ; while others do such prodigious 

 mischief, that they are looked upon in some 

 countries as one of the terrible scourges of 

 the incensed Divinity. 



Of this variegated tribe, the little grass- 

 hopper that breeds in such plenty in every 

 meadow, and that continues its chirping through 

 the summer, is best known to us ; and by having 

 its history, we shall be possessed of that of all 

 the rest. This animal is of the colour of green 

 leaves, except a line of brown which streaks 

 the back, and two pale lines under the belly 

 and behind the legs. It may be divided into 

 the head, the corselet, and the belly. The 

 head is oblong, regarding the earth, and bear- 

 ing some resemblance to that of a horse. Its 

 mouth is covered by a kind of round buckler 

 jutting over it, and armed with teeth of a 

 brown colour, hooked at the points. Within 

 the mouth is perceivable a large reddish 

 tongue, and fixed to the lower jaw. The 

 feelers or horns are very long, tapering off to a 

 point; and the eyes are like two black specks, 

 a little prominent. The corselet is elevated, 

 narrow, armed above and below by two ser- 

 rated spines. The back is armed with a strong 

 buckler, to which the muscles of the legs are 

 firmly bound, and round these muscles are seen 

 the vessels by which the animal breathes, as 

 white as snow. The last pair of legs are much 

 longer and stronger than the first two pair, 

 fortified by thick muscles, and very well formed 

 for leaping. It has four wings ; the anterior 

 one springing from the second pair of legs, 

 the posterior from the third pair. The hinder 

 wings are much finer and more expansive than 

 the foremost, and are the principal instruments 

 of its flight. The belly is considerably large, 

 composed of eight rings, and terminated by a 

 forky tail, covered with down, like the tail of 

 a rat. When examined internally, besides 

 the gullet, we discover a small stomach ; and 

 behind that a very large one, wrinkled and 

 furrowed within side : lower down there is 

 still a third ; so that it is not without reason 

 that all the animals of this order are said to 

 chew the cud, as they so much resemble ru- 



inant animals in their internal conformation. 



A short time after the grasshopper assumes 



told by Dr Le Fevre, that they make their way easily 

 into hard stifi'clay, to the depth of two or three feet, we 

 perceive how necessary to them such a conformation 

 must be. Insect Architecture. 



its wings, it fills the meadow with its note; 

 which, like that among birds, is a call to 

 courtship. The male only of this tribe is vocal; 

 and, upon examining at the base of the wings, 

 there will be found a little hole in its body, 

 covered with a fine transparent membrane. 

 This is thought, by Linnaeus, to be the instru- 

 ment it employs in singing : but others are of 

 opinion the sound is produced by rubbing its 

 hinder legs against each other : however this 

 be, the note of one male is seldom heard, but 

 it is returned by another; and the two little 

 animals, after many mutual insults of this 

 kind, are seen to meet and fight desperately. 

 The female is generally the reward of victory; 

 for, after the combat, the male seizes her with 

 his teeth behind the neck, and thus keeps her 

 for several hours till the business of fecundation 

 is performed. They are at that time so strong- 

 ly united, that they can scarcely be separated 

 without tearing asunder. Towards the latter 

 end of autumn the female prepares to deposit 

 her burden ; and her body is then seen greatly 

 distended with her eggs, which she carries to 

 the number of an hundred and fifty. In order 

 to make a proper lodgment in the earth for 

 them. Nature has furnished her with an in- 

 strument at her tail, somewhat resembling a 

 two-edged sword, which she can sheathe and 

 unsheathe at pleasure: with this she pierces 

 the earth as deep as she is able ; and into the 

 hole which her instrument has made, she de- 

 posits her eggs, one after the other. 



Having thus provided for the continuation 

 of her posterity, the animal herself does not 

 long survive ; but as the winter approaches, 

 she dries up, seems to feel the effects of age, 

 and dies from total decay. Some, however, 

 assert, that she is killed by the cold : and 

 others, that she is eaten by worms : but certain 

 it is, that neither the male nor female are ever 

 seen to survive the winter. In the meantime 

 the eggs which have been deposited continue 

 unaltered, either by the severity of the season 

 or the retardation of the spring. They are of 

 an oval figure, white, and of the consistence of 

 horn ; their size nearly equals that of a grain 

 of anise : they are enveloped in the body with- 

 in a covering, branched all over with veins 

 and arteries ; and when excluded they crack, 

 on being pressed between the fingers; their 

 substance within is a whitish, viscous, and 

 transparent fluid. In this manner they re- 

 main deposited beneath the surface of the earth 

 during the whole winter; till the genial re- 

 turn of spring begins to vivify and hatch them. 

 The sun, with its warmth, beginning to ani- 

 mate all nature, the insect eggs feel its benign 

 influence ; and generally, about the beginning 

 of May, every egg produces an insect about 

 the size of a flea. These, at first, are of a 

 whitish colour ; at the end of two or three days 



