THE GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS 



length. The front wings are long and narrow (Fig. 63, 

 fVi), somewhat stiff, and of a leathery texture. They are 

 laid over the thinner hind wings as a protection to the 

 latter when the wings are folded over the back, and for 

 this reason they are called the tegmina (singular, legmen). 

 The hind wings, when spread (IV-i), are seen to be large 

 tans, each with many ribs, or veins, springing from the 

 base. These wings are gliders rather than organs of flight. 

 For most grasshoppers leap into the air by means of 

 their strong hind legs and then sail off on the outspread 

 wings as far as a weak fluttering of the latter will 

 carry them. One of our common species, however, the 

 Carolina locust (Frontispiece), is a strong flyer, and when 



Fig. 15. A grasshopper, Chloeallis conspersa, that makes a sound by scraping 



its hind thighs over sharp-edged veins of its wings 



A, the male grasshopper, showing the sound-making veins of the wing {b). B, 



inner surface of right hind leg, showing row of teeth (a) on the lemur. C, 



several teeth of the femur (enlarged* 



flushed flits away on an undulating course over the 

 weeds and bushes and sometimes over the tops of small 

 trees, but always swerving this way and that as it unde- 

 cided where to alight. The great flights of the migratory 

 locusts, described in the last chapter, are said to have been 

 accomplished more by the winds than by the insects' 

 Strength of wing. 



The locusts are distinguished by the possession of large 



[29] 



