RECREATION. 



455 



in the whole insect tribe, however, is, I be- 

 lieve, my pet locust, " Whiskers " — so 

 named by a little neice, on account of her 

 long, graceful antennae. " Whiskers " is 

 one of the smallest of her family, and is a 

 dainty, lovely, agile little creature; light 

 olive-green, in color, with red legs. She 

 was reared from the egg, and has lived in 

 my room all her short life. She is quite 

 tame and recognizes me as soon as I ap- 

 proach, often hopping 2 feet or more in 

 order to light on my coat-sleeve, or out- 

 stretched hand. 



The first thing she does, after reaching 

 my hand, is to seek my little finger and try 

 her jaws on a diamond ring. The diamond 

 seems to puzzle her greatly. She sometimes 

 spends several minutes closely examining 

 it. She will stand off at a little distance 

 and pass her antennae over every portion of 

 it. Then she will come closer and make a 

 more minute examination; finally essaying 

 another bite with her powerful jaws. A 

 great water-drinker, she evidently thinks 

 the stone is some strange kind of dewdrop, 

 hence her persistent efforts to bite it. 



" Whiskers " has developed cannibalistic 

 tastes, for the hardened skin around my 

 finger nails is a favorite morccau which she 

 digs out with her sharp jaws and masticates 

 with seeming delight. She nips out a piece 

 of skin, cocks her head on one side, and, 

 looking up at me with her clear, emerald- 

 tinted eyes, her masticatory apparatus 

 working like a grist-mill, she seems to 

 say, "Well! old fellow, this is good." 



She passes most of her time on a bit of 

 turf, in a box on my table, where the sun 

 shines bright and warm. She is fond of 

 water, however, and makes frequent excur- 

 sions to the water-pitcher across the room. 

 How she discovered that it contained water 



is more than I can tell; but she did, and she 

 visits it often. 



It is in her habits of bodily cleanliness, 

 however, that " Whiskers " outshines all 

 other insects. I have watched her at early 

 dawn and have always found her at her 

 toilet. This is her first undertaking, even 

 before taking a bite to eat. She makes fre- 

 quent toilets during the day, and it is her 

 last occupation at night before sinking to 

 rest on a blade of grass. Her method of 

 procedure is very interesting. She com- 

 mences by first carefully cleansing her an- 

 tennae, drawing each of them through her 

 mouth repeatedly. Then she treats her 

 fore-legs to a thorough scrubbing, going 

 over every portion with her tongue and 

 jaws. With her fore-legs, using them as 

 hands, she then cleans her head and shoul- 

 ders, if I may use the latter term. Her mid- 

 dle legs and her long " vaulters " are then 

 subjected to the same careful treatment. 

 Her back and the posterior portion of her 

 abdomen are next rubbed down, she using 

 the last pair of legs for this purpose. Final- 

 ly, standing erect and incurvating her abdo- 

 men, between her legs, she cleans it and her 

 ovipositor, with her jaws and tongue. Her 

 toilet is made 20 or 30 times a day. Invari- 

 ably, after one of her excursions to the 

 water-pitcher, as soon as she returns to her 

 box this is her first occupation. 



This interesting little creature shows a 

 high degree of intelligence, inasmuch as 

 she evidently knows the way to and from 

 the water-pitcher. Many of the lower ani- 

 mals, notably the ant, the snail, the limpet, 

 and the flea have the sense of direction 

 highly developed; but it remained for 

 " Whiskers " to show that even an insect of 

 such low organization as the locust pos- 

 sesses it likewise. 



RECREATION. 



SAM. LEVEL CROFOOT. 



Is my greatest consolation. 

 It gives me all the sporting news, 

 And quickly cures the chronic blues. 

 It tells me where to hunt for deer, 

 And makes me glad, 12 times a year. 

 It treats of guns and game and fish, 

 And everything that one could wish. 

 I read its pages o'er and o'er, 

 Then sigh because there are no more. 

 These modest facts I free confess, 

 And wish Coquina great success. 



