44 
ity. The legs are hoisted above the back during the operation 
of drilling this hole, which requires more or less time, 
depending entirely upon the condition and _ character 
of the soil. As soon as the hole is finished,it is filled with 
a frothy and mucous material. Professor Riley,in describ- 
ing the method of laying eggs, writes: ‘‘By repeatedly 
extracting and studying specimens in every stage of ovi- 
position, we have been able to acertain the exact method by 
which the egg-mass is formed. If we could manage to watch 
a female from the time the bottom of her hole is moistened by 
the sebific fluid, we should see the valves all brought together, 
when an egg would pass down the oviduct along the ventral 
side, and, guided by a little finger-like style pass in between the 
horny valves, and issue at their tips amid the mucous fluid 
already spoken of. Then follows a period of convulsions dur- 
ing 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 twenty to thirty-five, but averaging about twenty- 
eight. The mucous matter binds all the eggs in a mass, and 
when the last is laid, the mother devotes some time to filling 
up the somewhat narrower neck of the burrow with a compact 
and cellulose mass of the same material, which, though light 
and easily penetrated, is more or less impervious to water, and 
forms a very excellent protection. When fresh the mass is soft 
and moist, but it soon acquires a firm consistency. 
‘To the casual observer, the eggs of our locust appear to be 
thrust indiscriminately into the hole made for their reception. 
A more careful study of the egg-mass, or egg-pod, will show, 
however, that the female took great pains to arrange them, not 
only so as to economize as much space as possible, consistent 
with the form of each egg, but so as to best facilitate the escape 
of the young locust; for if, from whatever cause, the upper 
eggs should fail to hatch, or should hatch later than the lower 
ones, the former would offer an impediment to the exit of the 
young in their endeavor to escape from these last, were there 
no provision against such a possibility. The eggs are, indeed, 
most carefully placed side by side in four rows, each row con- 
taining seven. They oblique a little cross-wise of the cylinder 
