THE GRASSHOPPER 



process brings no detritus to the surface, and gradually 

 the end of the insect's body sinks deeper and deeper, until 

 a considerable length of it is buried in the ground (Fig. 3). 

 Now all is ready for the discharge of the eggs. The exit 

 duct from the tubes of the ovary, which are filled with 

 eggs already ripe, opens just below and between the bases 

 of the lower prongs of the ovipositor, so that, when the 

 upper and lower prongs are separated, the eggs escape 

 from the passage between them. While the eggs are 

 being placed in the bottom of the well, a frothy gluelike 

 substance from the body of 

 the insect is discharged 

 over them. This sub- 

 stance hardens about the 

 eggs as it dries, but not in 

 a solid mass, for its frothy 

 nature leaves it full of 

 cavities, like a sponge, and 

 affords the eggs, and the 

 young grasshoppers when 

 they hatch, an abundance 

 of space for air. To the 

 outside of the covering 

 substance, while it is fresh 

 and sticky, particles of 

 earth adhere and make a 

 finely granular coating 

 over the mass, which, when hardened, looks like a small 

 pod or capsule that has been molded into the shape of the 

 cavity containing it (Fig. 4). The number of eggs within 

 each pod varies greatly, some pods containing only half 

 a dozen eggs, and others as many as one hundred and 

 fifty. Each female also deposits several batches of eggs, 

 each lot in a separate burrow and pod, before her egg 

 supply is exhausted. Some species arrange the eggs 

 regularly in the pods, while others cram them in hap- 

 hazard. 



Fig. 4. Egg pods of a grasshopper, show- 

 ing various shapes; one opened exposing 

 the eggs within. (Much enlarged) 



[5] 



