1 62 Education through Nature 



longer than its body. The song of the Katydid seems 

 to exist in these words repeated again and again with a 

 slight variation. 



5. The grasshopper is a great eater; you will be sur- 

 prised to find how quickly he will eat a clover leaf. His 

 jaws are very sharp and strong; he works them sideways 

 (horizontally) instead of up and down. He has a number 

 of mouth parts which help him get the leaf into his mouth 

 and he uses his front legs besides, so it is not strange that 

 he can eat up the leaf so fast. 



The upper lip is called the labrum. The true jaws are 

 the mandibles, which are single-jointed; they are also 

 broad and short, with a toothed cutting and grinding edge, 

 adapted for biting. The mandibles are situated on each 

 side of the mouth. 



Opening behind the mandibles are the maxillae, which 

 are divided into three lobes, the inner armed with teeth 

 or spines, the middle lobe unarmed, while the outer forms 

 a five-jointed feeler called the maxillary palpus. The 

 maxillae are accessory jaws and probably serve to hold and 

 arrange the food to be ground by the true jaws. The 

 floor of the mouth is formed by the labium; to each half 

 is appended a three-jointed palpus. Within the mouth, 

 situated upon the labium, is the ligula or tongue, which is 

 large and membranous; with chitinous spines on it to 

 hold the food. The tongue extends back to the pharynx 

 and narrows towards the back. 



6. The motor organs belong to the thorax, which is com- 

 posed of three parts. 



