68 



FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



COMMON CRICKET 

 Female 



The Red-legged Locust is one of the commonest 

 members of this family. Its eggs are laid in the ground 

 early in autumn and remain there 

 through the winter. The next sum- 

 mer they hatch into small grasshopper^ 

 that resemble the adult in general ap- 

 pearance, but of course are much 

 smaller and have no wings. They 

 molt or cast their skins several times 

 during the next six weeks, and then 

 they become full grown with well- 

 developed wings. 



The famous Rocky Mountain Locust 

 is very similar to the Red-legged spe- 

 cies. Fortunately it is unable to de- 

 velop continuously except at high al- 

 titudes, such as | the plateaus of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Here it used to become so abundant 

 that it was forced to migrate 

 for food. At such times, enor- 

 mous numbers of the grass- 

 hoppers flew toward the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, where they 

 fed upon all kinds of grasses 

 and grains and many other 

 plants. As they came sud- 

 denly in enormous swarms, it 

 was impossible to fight them 

 successfully, and they often 

 did great damage. 



There are many other spe- 

 cies of grasshoppers belong- 

 ing to this family, which are common and widely distrib- 



TREE CRICKETS 

 Male above ; female below 



