FALL AND WINTER ANIMAL STUDY. 445 



LESSON III. ADAPTATION TO LIFE AND HABITS. 



Aim. To lead children to think about the "why" of 

 common things about them. 



Step L How fitted for its home (Fig. 50). How its 

 color, green or brown, like the grass, helps the grasshopper 

 to hide, and protects it from birds and cats-. 



How its hard covering (compare with cabbage worm) 

 protects it. 



How it is made so that it can climb the grass blades, and 

 hold fast to them. How much better for it to be able to 

 jump over and between the tall grass blades ! 



Its head can turn to enable it to see around it. So its 

 neck is soft and flexible, but is covered by the hard collar. 

 Sometimes the sharp point of a blade of grass gets under 

 this collar when the grasshopper jumps ; this is apt to 

 kill it. 



Step II. How fitted for its movements. Why are the 

 hind legs so large ? How fitted for jumping ? 



How the front legs are fitted for holding. 



How the feet are fitted for catching when they jump. 



The head is very hard. It gets many hard blows when 

 the grasshopper is jumping. 



How the wings are fitted for their life. (Best seen in the 

 large flying grasshoppers). How the delicate inner wings 

 can be spread out for flying, or folded fan-like and pro- 

 tected under the tough outer wings. 



Step III. How fitted for its food. 



How made so that it can climb and hold on to the grass 

 blades. 



How its upper lip can be pulled up to uncover the teeth- 

 How its jaws move sideways. Why ? 



How fitted to eat grass. 



