ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRASSHOPPERS 



of this beautiful lark all was forgotten and Ella 

 was again her own happy self. 



Ella's teacher was interested in the study of 

 nature, especially the insects, and spent much 

 of her spare time collecting them, learning their 

 ways and the benefit or injury they do to man. 

 Ella generally accompanied her and shared these 

 studies and observations as best she could with 

 her young but rapidly developing mind. Nat- 

 urally at this discouraging time much of their 

 interest was centered upon the study of the 

 dreaded grasshoppers that for several years had 

 laid waste all vegetation, often depriving the 

 inhabitants of the bare necessities of life. 



One day in the latter part of August, Ella 

 and her teacher noticed a number of female 

 grasshoppers pushing the horny plates at the 

 lower end of their abdomen into the ground. 

 Upon examination they found the insects had 

 deposited in these openings a number of eggs 

 fastened together with a sort of cement into a 

 cylinder-shaped mass. When this was com- 

 pleted they covered the spot so no one who 

 had not witnessed the operation would suspect 

 that the eggs were there. The favorite locali- 



