The Decticus: his Instrument 



cipal function. Before anything else, the 

 insect uses it to express its joy in living, to 

 sing the delights of existence with a belly 

 well filled and a back warmed by the sun, 

 as witness the big Decticus and the male 

 Grasshopper, who, after the wedding, ex- 

 hausted for good and all and taking no fur- 

 ther interest in pairing, continue to stridu- 

 late merrily as long as their strength holds 

 out. 



The Grasshopper tribe has its bursts of 

 gladness; it has moreover the advantage of 

 being able to express them with a sound, the 

 simple satisfaction of the artist. The little 

 journeyman whom I see in the evening re- 

 turning from the workyard on his way home, 

 where his supper awaits him, whistles and 

 sings; for his own pleasure, with no intention 

 of making himself heard, nor any wish to 

 attract an audience. In his artless and 

 almost unconscious fashion, he tells the joys 

 of a hard day's work done and of his plate- 

 ful of steaming cabbage. Even so most 

 often does the singing insect stridulate : it is 

 celebrating life. 



Some go farther. If existence has its 

 sweets, it also has its sorrows. The saddle- 

 bearing Grasshopper of the vines is able to 

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