FALL AND WINTER ANIMAL XTUDY. 439 



OCTOBER WORK. 

 GRASSHOPPER OR CRICKET. 



Special Aim. To observe and learn about habits and 

 adaptation of structure to habits ; to give some idea of 

 the main parts and general plan of an insect. 



Material and Care. Study either grasshopper or cricket 

 carefully, and then compare, hastily, with the other. Crick- 

 ets stand schoolroom conditions and confinement better ; 

 grasshoppers are apt to die when confined. Crickets can 

 be most easily caught under stones ; grasshoppers can be 

 found, during the warmer sunny part of the day, in the 

 open fields. During September and October, both can be 

 obtained in different stages of development, the young 

 differing from the adults in size, in being stouter, with a 

 larger head in proportion to their length, and in having 

 short rudimentary wings. 



Keep in schoolroom in wire-netting cage, or in boxes 

 with top and bottom knocked out, and replaced by wire 

 netting, or musquito netting, to allow free circulation of 

 air. Place in vessels in bottom of box damp, not wet soil, 

 an inch or more in depth, in which can be placed tufts of 

 grass with the roots. A good insect cage can be made 

 from a chalk-box, by taking out the top and bottom, except 

 one to two inches at one end, and placing musquito netting 

 or, better, wire netting over the open spaces. Keep the 

 grasshoppers near the window, the crickets in a darker 

 part of the room. Keep them away from the stove, radia- 

 tor, or other source of heat. In general, the 'schoolroom 

 conditions of insects and other animals kept in confine- 

 ment should be made as much as possible like the out-door 

 natural conditions. 



