OKTHOPTEltA 



31 



grasshoppers (Acndfidcs) , which means those having an- 

 tenna half the length of the body, or less, are true locusts. 

 Those with antenna nearly as long as the body, or longer, 

 are the true grasshoppers (Locustidce) . Such is the katy- 

 did (Microcentrwn retinervis), which is more than an inch 

 long and has wings so veined and colored as to resemble a 

 green leaf. 



Habits. In most cases the eggs of the locust, number- 

 ing from ten to a hundred and having somewhat the form 

 of grains of wheat, are 

 laid during July or Au- 

 gust in the soil. They 

 are held together in ir- 

 regular masses by a ce- 

 ment. The majority of 

 the species pass the 

 winter in the egg state, 

 but the large American 

 locust, or bird grass- 

 hopper of our southern states, hibernates as an adult. The 

 young locusts, called nymphs, emerge from the eggs hidden 

 a half inch or more in the soil, during early summer. 

 Forms from a fourth of an inch to a half inch long and 

 wingless may be found in abundance in the grassy fields 

 during May and June. If some of these are caught and 

 fed with grass daily for a week or two the observer may 

 have the rare pleasure of seeing the insect molt, i.e., shed 

 its skin. Most insects molt during their growth period 

 from three to six times. 



After the locust's first molt the wing pads appear as 

 tiny projections, and after the third molt they are quite 



FIG. 7. Locust about two weeks old. Pho- 

 tograph twice natural size. 



