The White-faced Decticus: his Habits 



There is a deplorably large consumption of 

 this species in the cage. This is how things 

 happen: as soon as the game is introduced, 

 an uproar ensues in the mess-room, especially 

 if the Dectici have been fasting for some 

 time. They stamp about and, hampered by 

 their long shanks, dart forward clumsily; the 

 Locusts make desperate bounds, rush to the 

 top of the cage and there hang on, out of 

 the reach of the Grasshopper, who is too 

 stout to climb so high. Some are seized at 

 once, as soon as they enter. The others, who 

 have taken refuge up in the dome, are only 

 postponing for a little while the fate that 

 awaits them. Their turn will come ; and that 

 soon. Either because they are tired or be- 

 cause they are tempted by the green stuff 

 below, they will come down ; and the Dectici 

 will be after them immediately. 



Speared by the hunter's fore-legs, the 

 game is first wounded in the neck. It is al- 

 ways there, behind the head, that the Lo- 

 cust's shell cracks first of all; it is always 

 there that the Decticus probes persistently 

 before releasing his hold and taking his sub- 

 sequent meals off whatever joint he chooses. 



It is a very judicious bite. The Locust is 

 hard to kill. Even when beheaded, he goes 

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