ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



teacher watched crawled slowly up the side of a 

 board on the corner of the granary. When the 

 "hopper" was several feet from the ground it 

 clutched the wood firmly with the claws of its 

 hind feet which were drawn up under its body. 

 Thus it hung head down, with its long antennae 

 drawn over its face, motionless as though dead. 

 In a short time, the body between the wing- 

 pads began to swell. Presently, the skin split 

 open down the back, from the middle of the 

 head to the base of the abdomen. " It's not 

 dead; it's moving," whispered Ella, as the in- 

 sect began to swell about the head and upper 

 part of the body. By a number of muscular 

 contractions the new head was slowly pushed 

 from the old skin. Now the animal began by 

 hard labor to push the old skin, with its empty 

 eyes, back beneath the body; next, it slowly 

 drew forth the new feelers and front legs from 

 their old casings ; then, by other seemingly dif- 

 ficult efforts, the new wings that had been so 

 carefully folded and protected while growing, 

 were pulled out. They had been developing 

 from the very moment Ella saw the funny little 

 red "hopper" push its head out of the ground 

 [260] 



