298 THE INSECT WOELD. 



It is not till the following spring that the larvae pass into 

 the pupa state, and that the organs of flight begin to be marked 

 out. According to M. Feburier, three years are required for the 

 complete development of the mole cricket, which is a fact that 

 indicates remarkable longevity in these insects. All authors 

 agree, moreover, in extolling the solicitude with which the mole 

 cricket takes care of her little ones. She watches over them, and, 

 they say, procures them food. 



The genus Tridactylus, which bears a great analogy to the mole 

 cricket, is the smallest genus of Orthoptera known : the species 

 are not more than a sixth of an inch in length, and are found 

 in the south of France, on the banks of the Rhone and other 

 rivers, where they disport themselves in sand exposed to the sun. 

 The Tridactyli leap with remarkable agility, evan on the sur- 

 face of the water, for their legs are provided with flat appendages 

 much resembling battledores. 



The Grasshoppers and Locusts take much longer leaps than the 

 Crickets, owing to the conformation of their hind-legs, and they 

 often make use of their wings also, which are very fully developed. 

 These insects are unable to walk on account of the disproportion 

 which exists between their different pairs of legs. The female is 

 provided with a curved auger with two valves, which serves for 

 breaking up the ground for the reception of its eggs. The male 

 produces a sharp stridulation or screeching sound, by rubbing 

 the cases of its wings, which are furnished with plates which 

 might be compared to cymbals, one against another. 



The song of the grasshopper, known by every one, is a mono- 

 tonous zic-zic-zic, which can be heard during the day in grassy 

 places. It is on account of this song that the name of Cigale is 

 sometimes given, though wrongly, to the great green grasshopper. 

 As we have already said in speaking of the Cigale, it is the green 

 grasshopper which La Fontaine had in view in his fable of La 

 Cigale et la Fourmi, for all the plates which ornament the ancient 

 editions of the fables of this author represent a grasshopper, and 

 not a Cigale. Grasshoppers are spread over the whole surface of 

 the earth, but are to be met with chiefly in South America, which 

 contains nearly three-fourths of the species known. The European 

 species, on the contrary, are few. 



