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298 THE INSECT WORLD. 
It is not till the following spring that the larvae pass into 
the pupa state, and that the organs of flight begin to be marked 
out. According to M. Féburier, three years are required for the 
complete development of the mole cricket, which is a fact that 
indicates remarkable longevity in these insects. All authors 
agree, moreover, in extolling the solicitude with which the mole 
cricket takes care of her little ones. She watches over them, and, 
they say, procures them food. 
The genus Tridactylus, which bears a great analogy to the mole 
cricket, is the smallest genus of Orthoptera known: the species 
are not more than a sixth of an inch in length, and are found 
in the south of France, on the banks of the Rhéne and other 
rivers, where they disport themselves in sand exposed to the sun. 
The Tridactyli leap with remarkable agility, even on the sur- 
face of the water, for their legs are provided with flat appendages 
much resembling battledores. 
The Grasshoppers and Locusts take much longer leaps than the 
Crickets, owing to the conformation of their hind-legs, and they 
often make use of their wings also, which are very fully developed. 
These insects are unable to walk on account of the disproportion 
which exists between their different pairs of legs. The female is 
provided with a curved auger with two valves, which serves for 
breaking up the ground for the reception of its eggs. The male 
produces a sharp stridulation or screeching sound, by rubbing 
the cases of its wings, which are furnished with plates which 
might be compared to cymbals, one against another. 
The song of the grasshopper,’ known by every one, is a mono- 
tonous zic-zic-zic, which can be heard during the day in grassy 
places. It is on account of this song that the name of Cigale is 
sometimes given, though wrongly, to the great green grasshopper. 
As we have already said in speaking of the Cigale, it is the green 
grasshopper which La Fontaine had in view in his fable of La 
Cigale et la Fourmi, for all the plates which ornament the ancient 
editions of the fables of this author represent a grasshopper, and 
not a Cigale. Grasshoppers are spread over the whole surface of 
the earth, but are to be met with chiefly in South America, which 
contains nearly three-fourths of the species known. The European 
species, on the contrary, are few. 



