REPRODUCTION AND LIFE HISTORY 25 
The liquid wastes are collected by urinary tubes that open 
into the intestine. If the grasshopper could not get rid of 
the waste substances that form in the body, it would be un¬ 
able to live. If the grasshopper could use up entirely all the 
substances taken into the body, there would be little or no 
waste products. As the various nutritive substances become 
a part of the body of the grasshopper, some of the energy 
which they contain is so arranged that it cannot be used by 
the living cells of the insect. The grasshopper has organs 
of excretion which remove all these waste substances from 
the body. 
9. Nervous System. — The fundamental life process of 
irritability (sensation) in the grasshopper is performed by 
the nervous system. It consists of nerves and ganglia 
arranged in a row beneath the digestive canal and in the head. 
Nerves connect this central chain of ganglia, which are masses 
of nerve cells, with all parts of the body. On the head are 
found compound and simple eyes, special organs for feeling, 
the antennae, and organs of taste on the mouth parts. By 
means of all these specialized nervous organs, the grass¬ 
hopper is able to see, feel, and taste with a high degree of 
efficiency. Through these senses and that of hearing, it is 
made aware of food and enemies. 
10. Reproduction and Life History. — In the autumn the 
female lays from 25 to 100 eggs in shallow holes which she 
makes in the ground. Some grasshoppers lay their eggs in 
decayed logs. The following spring these eggs hatch into 
small, wingless grasshoppers called nymphs (nim'fs). (See 
Figure 11.) The nymph has a firm outer covering called an 
exoskeleton, which stretches but little with the growth of 
the nymph. Accordingly, at stated periods, the nymph sheds 
this exoskeleton, and grows for a time until it fills a new 
exoskeleton. This shedding or molting continues until the 
fifth and last molt, when the nymph becomes an adult pro¬ 
vided with wings and mature in every sense. 
