96 FARM SPIES 



thing did happen that made Willie feel sorry for his 

 remark. One of the grasshoppers had fastened his 

 little feet firmly to a leaf in the cage and sat so still 

 that the boys thought he was sick. After a while 

 they saw the skin split over his back, and before 

 noon the insect dropped helplessly to the ground, 

 leaving his outgrown skin hanging on the leaf. 



" Whatever this is, it seems to make him feel bad. 

 You see he does not feed like the others," they said. 



In an hour, or maybe a little longer, the new skin 

 had hardened and the young grasshopper joined the 

 others, and seemed to be extra hungry. 



"I was mistaken," said Freddie, " because I see 

 now that he feels better for having lost his skin. 

 Who would have thought that an animal can lose 

 its skin and live?" continued Freddie. "That is a 

 great deal more than you can do. I wonder if papa 

 knows about this." 



So they went and told their father about it, and 

 he explained to them that this is called molting. 

 He assured them that if they kept their eyes open, 

 they would see the others do likewise, and that all 

 grasshoppers do it a number of times. 



By this time they saw young grasshoppers every- 

 where, in their cages, along the garden-fence, and 

 along the roadside. When walking over the short 

 grass they could see hundreds jumping in every 

 direction. They had no trouble now to find plenty 



