PIPERS AND MINNESINGERS 



17 



ours. The insect heart is a tube that extends along the 

 back, like our backbone, and it is a most disconcerting 

 organ when regarded as a 

 possible locality for senti- 

 ment. 



The long-horned or mead- 

 ow grasshoppers are usually 

 bright green or pale brown 

 in color and occur in the 

 taller grass of the meadows. 

 They have long antennae, as 

 delicate as fine silken threads, 

 which they keep constantly 

 in motion (Fig. 4). These 

 musicians have an apparatus 

 for singing quite different 

 from that of their short- 

 horned cousins. The wing- 

 covers, near their bases at 



the middle of the back, have a portion enlarged and 

 sustained by strong veins (Fig. 5). One of these veins 

 is ridged, and when drawn across the edge of the 

 other wing-cover causes a vibration. The note given 

 off is high but soft and pleasing ; we associate it with 

 the meadows in haying time and the heat of the day ; 

 however, several of our common species sing in the 



Fig. 4. Meadow Grasshopper. 



