70 



The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



Rocky Mountain" 

 Locust .-—Anal characters 

 of female, showing horny 

 valves. 



purpose, especially at the middle, and the hole is generally 

 a little curved, and always more or less oblique (Fig. 6, d). 

 Now with hind legs hoisted straight above the back, and 

 the shanks hugging more or less closely the thighs, she 

 commences ovipositing. If we could manage to watch a 

 female during the arduous work of ovi- L Fig. 7.] 



positing, we should find that, when the 

 hole is once drilled, there commences 

 to exude at the dorsal end of the abdo- 

 men, from a pair of sponge-like exser- 

 tile organs (Fig. 8, h) that are normally 

 retracted and hidden beneath the super- 

 anal plate (Fig. 8, t), near the cerci, a 

 frothy, mucous matter, which fills up the bottom of the 

 hole. Then with the two pairs of valves brought close to- 

 gether, an egg would be seen to slide down the oviduct (j) 

 along the ventral end of the abdomen, 

 and guided by a little finger-like style* 

 (g) pass in between the horny valves 

 (which are admirably constructed, not 

 only for drilling, but for holding and con- 

 ducting the egg to its appropriate place) 

 and issue at their tips amid the mucous 

 fluid already spoken of. Then follows a 

 period of convulsions, during which more 

 mucous material is elaborated, until the 

 whole end of the body is bathed in it, 

 when another egg passes down and is 

 placed in position. These alternate processes continue 

 until the full complement of eggs are in place, the number 

 ranging from 20 to 35, but averaging about 28. The mu- 

 cous matter binds all the eggs in a mass, and when the 



* This is a simple process or extension of the sternite, and may be known as 

 the egg -guide, or gubemaculum ovi. 



A 



Oviposition OF 

 Rockt Mountain 

 Locust 



