The Locusts: their Eggs 



information about methods of laying. In 

 my cages, as the result of an aberration due 

 no doubt to the boredom of captivity, it has 

 never laid its eggs in the ground. I have 

 always seen it operating in the open air and 

 even perched on high. 1 In the early days of 

 October, the insect clings to the trelliswork 

 of the cage and very slowly discharges its 

 batch of eggs, which we see gushing forth 

 in a fine, foamy stream, soon stiffening into 

 a thick cylindrical cord, knotty and queerly 

 curved. It takes nearly an hour to complete 

 the emission. Then the thing falls to the 

 ground, no matter where, unheeded by the 

 mother, who never troubles about it again. 



The shapeless object, which varies greatly 

 in different layings, is at first straw-coloured, 

 then darkens and turns rusty-brown on the 

 morrow. The fore-part, which is the first 

 ejected, usually consists only of foam; the 

 hinder part alone is fertile and contains the 

 eggs, buried in a frothy matrix. They are 

 amber-yellow, about a score in number and 

 shaped like blunt spindles, eight to nine 

 millimetres in length. 2 



1 The big Grey Locust is sometimes subject to the 

 same aberration. Author's Note. 

 a .312 to .351 inch. Translator's Note. 



393 



