234 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



into the air, in search of fresh pastures, 

 proves his end. When he jumps he has not 

 the slightest idea of where he will come 

 down. Often he alights in the angle be- 

 tween a grass leaf and its stem. Caught 

 there he cannot release himself, and death 

 through starvation awaits him. If he, es- 

 cape this imprisonment, later in the season 

 a little red spider is apt to attach itself to 

 him just below the base of the wing. This 

 greedy villain slowly sucks away his life- 

 blood until gradually the wretched host 

 succumbs. Should the grasshopper escape 

 earlier accidents and live to old age, he is 

 still more to be pitied. The cold days of 

 fall stiffen the poor thing, and he lies ap- 

 parently dead in some crevice between the 

 stones. A warmer sun thaws him out again, 

 and he gives a few short jumps in the early 

 afternoon. With the cool of evening he 

 stiffens up once more, probably to remain 

 so for days, even for weeks. Finally the 

 cold becomes too great for him to bear, and 

 from torpor he passes into death. In the 

 latitude of Pennsylvania his wife some- 



