242 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



it alights. The instant it grasps the stem it dodges 

 quickly around to the side opposite the intruder. 

 Then, holding the stem firmly with its short front and 

 middle legs, it draws its slender hind legs close up 

 against the body and hugging its support as closely 

 as possible, remains perfectly motionless. Its body is 

 almost cylindrical, and being of the same general 



color as the stalk of 

 the plant on which 

 it rests, it is almost 

 impossible to detect 



Fig. 68-Florida Grasshopper. ^ ^^ Qne geeg ex _ 



actly where it alights. Eight times out of ten a per- 

 son, by approaching quietly, can reach his hand about 

 the plant stem and grasp the insect. Its habits excel- 

 lently illustrate the so-called " protective mimicry " 

 of form and coloring, as it always seems to choose a 

 cylindrical object, and one similar to its own color, 

 before alighting. 



Let us now briefly notice the habits of our ash- 

 brown, black-winged friend, the " Carolina grasshop- 

 per." To the casual observer he appears to be our 

 most common species but there are a dozen which 

 are more abundant. His numbers appear multiplied 

 because he frequents the highways and byways of 

 man rather than the pastures and meadows where 

 other grasshoppers are wont to congregate. More- 

 over, when disturbed, he more often betakes himself 

 to the bare earth than to the green grass. " Why this 

 absurd taste?" asks the person uninitiated in the 

 doings of nature's objects. For the simple reason 

 that the dust of the roadside and the gravel ballast of 



