The White-faced Decticus: his Habits 



think of a flock of Guinea-fowl pecking the 

 grain scattered by the farmer's wife. When 

 the spikes are robbed of their tender seeds, 

 the rest is scorned, however urgent the claims 

 of hunger may be. 



To break the monotony of the diet as much 

 as is possible in these dog-days, when every- 

 thing is burnt up, I gather a thick-leaved, 

 fleshy plant which is not too sensitive to the 

 summer heat. This is the common purslane, 

 another invader of our garden-beds. The 

 new green stuff meets with a good reception ; 

 and once again the Dectici dig their teeth not 

 into the leaves and the juicy stalks, but only 

 into the swollen capsules of half-formed 

 grains. 



This taste for tender seeds surprises me: 

 SrjKriKot, biting, fond of biting, the lexicon 

 tells us. A name that expresses nothing, a 

 mere identification-number, is able to satisfy 

 the nomenclator; in my opinion, if the name 

 possesses a characteristic meaning and at the 

 same time sounds well, it is all the better for 

 it. Such is the case here. The Decticus is 

 eminently an insect given to biting. Mind 

 your finger if the sturdy Grasshopper gets 

 hold of it : he will rip it till the blood comes. 



And can this powerful jaw, of which I 

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