OF THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



273 



pair of horny yalves at tlie tip of the abdomen she is able 

 to di-ill a cylindrical hole in the ground, preferring for 

 this purpose soil that is rather firm, though not too hard. 

 In a moist climate, or where yegetation is rank, she 

 chooses bare and ex]30sed places, but in her native range, 

 viz., the l^orth western Plains, where the yegetation is 

 usually scant and short, she chooses rather the shade at 

 the base of some Sage bush or Grease- wood shrub. When 

 the hole is once drilled the eggs are laid in four tolerably 



Fig. 159.— EGG-MA.SSES OF LOCUST, MAGNIFIED. 



Egg Mass.— a, from the side, within burrow ; &, from beneath c, from above. 



regular rows (fig. 159), interspersed by a fluid which is 

 frothy and mucous, and which dries around the eggs and 

 fills up the neck of the burrow (fig. 159, d). Each fe- 

 male lays from two to three batches of eggs, each batch 

 containing about thirty eggs. The eggs are laid through- 

 out the late summer and fall months until winter sets in, 

 at which time every stage of embryonic development can 

 be found. The great bulk of the eggs remain unhatched 

 until the ensuing spring. 



Habits and Development. — The yonng locusts con- 

 gregate in large numbers in warm and sonny places. At 

 night, or during cold and damp weather, they usually 

 huddle together under any shelter or rubbish that may be 

 at hand. They do not migrate until they have eaten off 

 the vegetation where they hatch. This usually happens 

 when they are about one-third or one-half grown. They 



