478 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



they turn black ; and soon after they become 

 of a reddish brown. 



They appear, from the beginning, like 

 grasshoppers, wanting wings ; and hop among 

 the grass, as soon as excluded, with great agi- 

 lity. 



Yet still they are by no means arrived at 

 their state of full perfection, although they bear 

 a strong resemblance to the animal in its per- 

 feet form. They want, or seem to want, the 

 wings, which they are at last seen to assume ; 

 and can only hop among the grass, without 

 being able to fly. The wings, however, are 

 not wanting, but are concealed within four 

 little bunches, that seem to deform the sides of 

 the animal : there they lie rolled up in a most 

 curious manner ; and occupying a smaller 

 space than one could conceive who saw them 

 extended. Indeed, all insects, whatever trans- 

 mutations they seem to undergo, are yet 

 brought forth with those very limbs, parts, and 

 wings, which they afterwards seem to acquire. 

 In the most helpless caterpillar there is still to 

 be seen the rudiments of that beautiful plum- 

 age which it afterwards expands when a but- 

 terfly: and though many new parts seem un- 

 folded to the view, the animal acquires none 

 but such as it was from the beginning posses- 

 sed of. The grasshopper, therefore, though 

 seemingly without wings, is, in reality, from 

 the first, possessed of those instruments, and 

 only waits for sufficient force to break the 

 bonds that hold them folded up, and to give 

 them their full expansion. 



The grasshopper, that, for above twenty 

 days from its exclusion, has continued without 

 the use of its wings, which were folded up to 

 its body, at length prepares for its emancipa- 

 tion, and for a life of greater liberty and plea- 

 sure. To make the proper dispositions for the 

 approaching change, it ceases from its grassy 

 iood, and seeks about for a convenient place 

 beneath some thorn or thistle, that may protect 

 it from an accidental shower. The same la- 

 borious writhings and workings, heavings and 

 palpitations, which we have remarked in every 

 other insect upon an approaching change, are 

 exhibited in this. It swells up its head and 

 neck ; it then seems to draw them in again ; 

 and thus alternately, for some time it exerts 

 its powers to get free. At length, the skin 

 covering the head and breast is seen dividing 

 above the neck ; the head is seen issuing out 

 first from the bursting skin ; the efforts still 

 continuing, the other parts follow successively; 

 so that the little animal, with its long feelers, 

 legs and all, works its way from the old skin, 

 that remains fixed to the thistle or the thorn. 

 It is, indeed, inconceivable how the insect can 

 thus extricate itself from so exact a sheath as 

 that which covereth every part of its body. 1 



1 A curious circumstance regarding the grasshopper is 



The grasshopper, thus disengaged from its 

 outer skin, appears in its perfect form ; but 

 then so feeble, and its body so soft and tender, 

 that it may be moulded like wax. It is no 

 longer of that obscure colour which it exhibi- 

 ted before, but of a greenish white, which be- 

 comes more vivid as the moisture on the sur- 

 face is dried away. Still, however, the ani- 

 mal continues to show no signs of life, but ap- 

 pears quite spent and fatigued with its labour 

 for more than an hour together. During this 

 time, the body is drying, and the wings un- 

 lolding to their greatest expansion ; and the 

 curious observer will perceive them, fold after 

 fold, opening to the sun, till at last they be- 

 come longer than the two hinder legs. The 

 insect's body also is lengthened during this 

 operation, and it becomes much more beauti- 

 ful than before. 



These insects are generally vocal in the 

 midst of summer, arid they are heard at sun- 

 setting much louder than during the heats of 

 the day. They are fed upon grass ; and, if 

 their belly be pressed, they will be seen to re- 

 turn the juices of the plants they have last fed 

 upon. Though unwilling to fly, and slow in 

 flight, particularly when the weather is moist 

 or cool, they are sometimes seen to fly to con- 

 siderable distances. If they are caught by 

 one of the hinder legs, they quickly disengage 

 themselves from it, and leave the leg behind 

 them. This, however, does not grow again, 

 as with crabs or spiders ; for as they are ani- 

 mals but of a single year's continuance, they 

 have not sufficient time for repairing those ac- 

 cidental misfortunes. The loss of their leg also 

 prevents them from flying ; for being unable 

 to lift themselves in the air, they have not room 

 upon the ground for the proper expansion of 

 their wings. If they be handled roughly, 

 they will bite very fiercely ; and when they 

 fly, they make a noise with their wings. They 

 generally keep in the plain, where the grass 



related in the American Quarterly Review. The large 

 winged grasshopper, which flutters with so much viva- 

 city through our meadows during the autumn, feeds upon 

 vegetable matter, and deposits its eggs upon vege- 

 tables, for the purpose of being supported until matured. 

 Before the grasshopper takes wing another insect, the 

 ichneumon, lights upon its body, and thrusts under its 

 skin a number of its eggs, by means of a tubular awl- 

 shaped oviduct. Those eggs slowly acquire perfection, 

 become living worms, and feed upon the body of the hap- 

 less grasshopper, until themselves are ready to take 

 wing. So admirably do they perform their office, that 

 they do not injure the vital organs of the insect they are 

 internally devouring, until they are just ready to change 

 their state : and at the proper season, hundreds of grass- 

 hoppers, in this condition, have just strength enough 

 remaining to flutter to a tree or fence, and with a dying 

 effort fix their hooked feet so firmly as to retain their 

 position long after death. Examine their bodies at this 

 season, and you will find an empty shell or one filled with 

 large and active worms, just ready to burst their cover- 

 ings and become winged insects. 



