INSECTS 



parently a natural and contented life, feeding on grape 

 leaves and on ripe grapes, obtaining the pulp of the latter 

 by gnawing holes through the skin. He was always sedate, 

 always composed, his motions always slow and deliberate. 

 In walking he carefully lifted each foot and brought the leg 

 forward with a steady movement to the new position, 



Fie. 22. The oblong-winged katydid, Amblycorypha oblongifolia, male 



where the foot was carefully set down again. Only in the 

 act of jumping did he ever make a quick movement of any 

 sort. But his preparations for the leap were as calm and 

 unhurried as his other acts: pointing the head upward, 

 dipping the abdomen slowly downward, the two long hind 

 legs bending up in a sharp inverted V on each side of the 

 body, he would lead one to think he was deliberately pre- 

 paring to sit down on a tack; but, all at once, a catch 

 seems to be released somewhere as he suddenly springs 

 upward into the leaves overhead at which he had taken 

 such long and careful aim. 



For a long time the aristocratic prisoner uttered no 

 sound, but at last one evening he repeated three times a 



[40] 



