The Life of the Grasshopper 



parabola. The flight alone, once taken, is 

 of a certain range, thanks to an excellent pair 

 of wings. 



And then what a strange head! It is an 

 elongated cone, a sugar-loaf, whose point, 

 turned up in the air, has earned for the 

 insect the quaint epithet of nasuta, long- 

 nosed. At the top of this cranial promon- 

 tory are two large, gleaming, oval eyes and 

 two antennae, flat and pointed, like dagger- 

 blades. These rapiers are organs of in- 

 formation. The Tryxalis lowers them, with 

 a sudden swoop, to explore with their points 

 the object in which she is interested, the bit 

 which she intends to nibble. 



To this abnormal shape we must add an- 

 other characteristic that makes this long- 

 shanks an exception among Acridians. The 

 ordinary Locusts, a peaceful tribe, live 

 among themselves without strife, even when 

 driven by hunger. The Tryxalis, on the 

 other hand, is somewhat addicted to the can- 

 nibalism of the Grasshoppers. In my cages, 

 in the midst of plenty, she varies her diet 

 and passes easily from salad to game. When 

 tired of green stuff, she does not scruple to 

 iexercise her jaws on her weaker companions. 



This is the creature capable of giving us 

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