THE GRASSHOPPER. 23 



five times. This process is called molting, and is quite 

 easily observed. The grasshopper hangs head down- 

 ward from a twig, post, or some other support. The 

 skin, or skeleton, splits open on the back, and the 

 grasshopper comes out, leaving the old skeleton of 

 every part of its body ; eyes, antennae, legs, etc. The 

 process of molting requires about half an hour, and 

 after the process the legs are very weak and the body 

 very soft. For a day or two the grasshopper grows 

 rapidly, and then ceases to grow until the next molt. 



When a grasshopper is hatched from the egg, it 

 resembles somewhat the old one. In all its molting, 

 it still resembles the mature grasshopper. On this 

 account it is said to have an incomplete or direct 

 metamorphosis. 



The metamorphosis of an insect is the seri§s of 

 changes that it undergoes from the egg to the mature 

 form. ^ 



The grasshopper breathes through spiracles which 

 open into the tracheae, or air tubes through which air 

 is conveyed to all parts of the body. There is, then, 

 no need for blood to serve as a conveyer of air to the 

 tissues of the body, nor to carry carbon dioxide away 

 from the tissues. So we find that the blood in a 

 grasshopper is very small in quantity and is white in 

 color. It has no red corpuscles. There is a slender 

 tube lying along the back which contains some blood 

 and is called a heart. It is rather difficult to discover 

 in a dead specimen. 



Each facet of the compound eye probably repre- 

 sents in some way a single eye. If all the facets of 

 the eye were covered up except one, the grasshopper 

 could still see with that one. The shape of the com- 

 pound eye is such that some of the facets are directed 

 upward, some downward, some forward, and some 

 backward. It would seem that the grasshopper is well 

 provided with means for seeing, but it is very doubtful 



