158 THE LOCUSTINA. 



antennae, and in the females this part of the body not 

 unfrequently exhibits an elongated ovipositor. 



It is scarcely necessary to tell the reader that if he 

 will lay all fears of a sun-stroke on one side, and 

 walk through any meadow in the glowing months of 

 July or August, about the time when the second hay 

 crop is waiting for the scythe, his ears will be saluted 

 by an incessant chirping noise ; nor will he perhaps 

 require to be informed that the little vocalists who so 

 pertinaciously intrude their musical powers upon his 

 notice, are commonly known as Grasshoppers. This, 

 however, is probably all he knows about the matter ; 

 and if, guided by the sound, he proceeds to search 

 among the grass for the noisy little insect, whose 

 chirping note has attracted his attention, he will find, 

 as he approaches, that the music suddenly ceases, and 

 when he comes nearly within reach of the musician, 

 and begins to think of making a capture with a view 

 to a closer acquaintance with him, the insect, who 

 probably has private reasons for wishing to avoid any 

 such consummation, vanishes with a sudden spring, 

 and, assisting himself with his wings, changes his 

 position for one perhaps at a distance of several yards, 

 where he snugly ensconces himself amongst the grass. 

 With a little trouble, however, we may soon procure 

 plenty of specimens for examination, when we shall ' 

 find that the little creatures, which render the mea- 

 dows vocal at a time when the heat of the sun has 

 induced most of their other inhabitants to seek repose, 

 are small elongated insects, usually of a green or 

 brownish- grey colour, furnished with a large, oval, 

 perpendicular head, which bears a pair of short and 



