n in the grass perfectly still, and soon the insects that
live in the grass will begin to appear.

[Illustration]

What they will do you must find out for yourselves; but you may be sure
it will be worth finding out,--the funny, clever, wise little
people!--ah! they are good to watch.

They will soon go on chirping and shrilling and rasping and kricking and
tapping and whizzing and whirring and buzzing all about you; and if you
listen sharp, perhaps you can understand some of the things they say.

And this I am sure of; if you really watch and listen, you can learn to
know the different insects by their sounds, just as you can know the
birds by their songs. You can even tell whether you are listening to the
meadow grasshopper, or the locust.

If I thought you were not tired of hearing how grasshoppers are made, I
should tell you some more.

John says he would like to know some more.

Well, then, I will tell you about their rings.

You can see the rings of the grasshopper people very plainly in their
abdomens.

[Illustration]

Here is a picture of a grasshopper. It is not all drawn. The legs and
wings are not shown, and the abdomen is drawn by itself so you can see
it easily.

There are ten rings, you see.

The rings are covered with a hard, horny substance.

This horny substance is what makes the body of the insect so stiff. It
would be soft but for the chitin, as the horny substance is called.

It is better for the insect to have a chitinous covering.

If you had no bones, you would be glad to have your skin hardened with
chitin.

You see how it is, you wear your skeleton inside. Your skeleton is of
bones; it is an inside skeleton.

The grasshoppers and all the insects wear their skeleton outside. It is
made of chitin; it is an outside skeleton.

Insects have no bones.

They do not need any. They are kept stiff by the chitin.

Each ring in the insect's abdomen is made of four pieces, the back
piece, the side pieces, and the under piece. You can see the back piece
and one side piece in the picture, but you cannot see the other side
piece nor the under piece without turning the insect over.

The rings are made in pieces so the insect can move.

Suppose each ring were made of one stiff piece like a finger ring. What
a poor stiff, old grasshopper it would be! The rings are called
segments.

Segment number one has only a back piece, you see.

All the other segments have four pieces.

Segmen