LESSON XVII.
THE LIFE OF THE OLD MAN OF THE MEADOW.
Many years ago, a great poet wrote a song to the grasshopper. The poet said the grasshopper was the happiest of living things. It did nothing but dance and sing. It ate fresh leaves, and drank cool dew. When the glad summer of its life was done, it died. It did not live to be sick, or hungry, or cold.
This poet called the grasshopper “the earth-born,” and said that it was man’s little brother.
Yes, the grasshopper is earth-born. The mother grasshopper makes, with the sword of which I told you, a hole in the ground. In that she lays her eggs, in a case made of something like glue. Then she closes up the hole, and the eggs lie all winter, safe in the ground.
In the spring, the larvæ hatch from the egg, and creep out of the ground. They are very small, but shaped much like the parent, only they have no wings. They molt, or change their skins several times.
At first, the little ones are all alike, but after several changes of skin, the larvæ become pupæ. Then you can see the coming wings under a little sheath. You can also see Mrs. Grasshopper’s sword growing.
About six or eight weeks, after hatching, the final change is made. The perfect insect comes out of its last-shed skin. It has now two pairs of wings. Mr. Grasshopper plays on his new drum, and Mrs. Grasshopper marches about with her new sword.
The young grasshoppers are very greedy while larvæ and pupæ. They eat all the time. When they are grown, they do not give all their time to eating. Mr. Grasshopper must sing, and he does not do this while either flying or eating.
He stands quite still, fixes himself firmly by his fore-feet, and presses his body downward. There is a little quiver through all his body as long as the sound lasts.
The people of Italy call him “the screamer,” or “the squealer,” from his shrill noise.
The grasshopper has a very odd habit. After he haseaten for a long time, he sits quite still. He looks as if he were doing some serious thinking. Sometimes when he sits in this way, he moves his mouth as if chewing. From this action, people used to think that he chewed the cud, as cows and sheep do.
But he does not chew the cud. If you watch him well, in these silent times, you will see him gravely licking his long feelers, and his lips. He seems to be cleaning them.
To do this, he runs out a long, limber tongue, shaped much like yours. You remember that the ants have this habit of cleaning and dressing themselves, after eating.[14]
The great, green grasshopper, which lives on the trees, has wings of a gray-green. He has a little bronze, or russet color, on his feet, and on the under part of his body. The rest of his body is a fine leaf-green.
The color in the grasshopper does not seem to be laid on the surface of his coat, as on that of the beetle. It is not put on in plumes and scales, as the butterfly has it. But it is dyed through and through the wings and body.
The wing-cases of the grasshopper, and the rings of thebody, are not hard, and like horn or shell, as in the beetle tribe. They are of a tough skin, and are dyed with the color.
Let us have a look at some of these fine fellows. Although the color of the great, green grasshopper is so gay, it will be hard to find him. His coat is just the tint of the leaves he likes to live among. You can scarcely see him even if you look straight at him.
You will find in the grass a smaller, lighter-green hopper that is very easily caught, because in his hurry to get away he flies right up in your face, when he hears you coming.
The grasshoppers are a very timid family, and are very sensitive to sound. Some say that their long feelers serve them for ears. But that is not true.
The garden grasshopper has very small wings. Its color is brownish gray. It likes to live in the garden walls or under the leaves in the borders. Both Mr. and Mrs. Grasshopper sing in this garden family. They keep up fine music for those who like to hear them, as one answers the song of the other.
I think we most of us like the cry of the grasshopper. It brings to our mind the warm, dry, sunny days, the time of flowers.
Out in the meadow you will find our Old Man, the common great, gray hopper. As the great, green one in the trees is hidden by his color, so is the great, gray one hidden in the grass. His coat is the hue of the half-dry grass, with little tinges of green along it.
He seems a very plain insect at first. But watch him and notice the light red and yellowish bands on his legs. He has spots of soot color on his wing cases. When he spreads his wide wings, note the brown and yellow stripes. He is fine enough after all.
In the woods, among the pine and fir trees, you will find a light-green, small, slim grasshopper a deal like the garden singer.
There is a very handsome, large grasshopper called the wart-biter. The boys in Sweden give him this name, because they think he can cure warts. They think that if he bites a wart, and puts some dark brown juice on it, the wart will go away.
The wart-biter is nearly two inches long. It is a green-gray with reddish legs and feet. It lays its eggs in little balls in the earth.
In South America there are very large and splendid grasshoppers. Their wings are so gay that when they fly they look much like butterflies. The wings, in flight, cover most of the body.
But when you see the large, long legs stretched out behind, and the very long feelers waving to the tips of the wings, you will know that this is a grasshopper. All this brown and black and crimson splendor is the Old Man of the Meadow, with a very fine coat.
The grasshopper is not migratory. It does not change its home. It dies near where it was born. Frost and cold kill it. It does not outlive the winter, as butterflies, bees, and wasps do.
Grasshoppers appear in great numbers, but they do not go in swarms as locusts do.
Each grasshopper lives alone. He does nothing for his neighbor, and his neighbor does nothing for him.
When grasshoppers are numerous they damage the grass and the young crops.
FOOTNOTES:[14]See Nature Reader, No. 2. Lessons on Ants.
[14]See Nature Reader, No. 2. Lessons on Ants.
[14]See Nature Reader, No. 2. Lessons on Ants.