When I was a little girl, I caught a grasshopper and put him into
a bottle. Then I sat down outside the bottle, and looked at the
grasshopper. He sat inside the bottle, and looked at me.
It began to grow upon my mind that the grasshopper looked much like
an old man. His face, with the big, solemn eyes and straight mouth,
was like an old man’s face. He wore a gray coat, like a loose duster.
He had a wrinkled greenish vest. He wore knee-breeches and long red
stockings. The more I looked at him, the more he looked like a little,
grave, old-time man who came to visit my aged grandfather. But I
thought my grasshopper in the bottle felt like a prisoner. I said, “Now
you may go, my Old Man of the Meadow.”
I took the cork out of the bottle. The grasshopper at once leaped up,
and sat on the rim of the bottle. Then a strange thing happened. The
Old Man of the Meadow spread out two wide brown wings. They had a
broad, lemon-colored band on them. They were gay as the wings of a
butterfly. On them he sailed away.
I could hardly believe my eyes. I ran after him to a tall stalk of
golden-rod. There he sat, a plain, gray-green old man. But again he
spread out the wide wings, and was gone. My Old Man of the Meadow had
then this splendid dress-coat under his sober overcoat. Seated at rest,
he looked plain and quiet,--a creature of the earth. Lifted into the
air, he was nearly as fine as a butterfly.
The grasshopper lives much in the grass, and his chief motion is in
hops, or long jumps. He has another name, “the murmurer.” This is given
him because of the noise or song he makes. His song is loud and shrill.
It is made by rubbing his wings one upon the other. He has a little
piece of skin like a tight drumhead set in each wing. As he moves his
wings, this tiny drum vibrates, or trembles, and makes the shrill
sound. Mrs. Grasshopper does not have this drum in her wings.
Let us take a closer look at the grasshopper. As he is an insect, he
should have a body made in rings, in three parts, with four wings and
six legs set on the second, or chest part. His front pair of legs is
shorter than the others. This hinders him in walking over a level
surface. But it helps him in walking up a tree, or small plant, or
a wall. See the hind legs! They are more than twice as long as the
others. The thigh, or upper part, is very long and strong. By means of
these big legs the grasshopper is a famous jumper.
Now, if you have a grasshopper to look at, you will see that the feet
have four parts. The part of the leg between the foot and the thigh
has sharp points like the teeth of a comb. The hind part of the body
is long and slender, and, being made of rings, can bend easily. In the
great green grasshopper all the body is of a fine green tint.
Let us look at the wings. The upper pair, or wing-covers, are large
and long. Notice two things about the wings: they lap at the tips, and
are high in the middle. When they are shut, they have a shape like a
slanting roof. The upper ones are longer than the lower ones. These
wing-cases have large veins. Lift up a wing-case and pull out a lower
wing. It is folded very closely, in lengthwise plaits. Where these
wings join Mr. Grasshopper’s body, you will find his drum plate for
making music. One kind of grasshopper has very short wing-covers. In
that kind, both Mr. and Mrs. Grasshopper make music. There is also one
grasshopper, a little green fellow, that has no drum, and is silent.
The upper side of the grasshopper’s chest is shaped like a great horny
collar. The head is large, and has two big glossy eyes. There is, also,
a knob on the forehead. Between the eyes are set the feelers. They are
very long, even longer than all the body. The mouth of the grasshopper
is wide, and it has strong jaws. But they are not so strong as those
of his cousin, the cricket.
Grasshoppers prefer vegetable food. They will sometimes eat animal
food. When two are shut up in a box, they will fight, and the one which
is killed will be eaten by the victor.
If you could look inside the grasshopper’s body, you would see that he
has a gizzard much like that of a chicken. It is made of little bands
set with fine teeth. These teeth chew up into a pulp the leaves which
the grasshopper has eaten. After he has eaten for a long time, he sits
quite still. He looks as if he were 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.
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 and the rings of the body are not hard,
like horn or shell, as in the beetle tribe. They are of a tough skin,
and are dyed with the color.
The grasshopper 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. Each grasshopper lives alone. He does
nothing for his neighbor, and his neighbor does nothing for him.
--JULIA MACNAIR WRIGHT.