the locust adheres and
grips forcibly. The trunk appears to be full of a fatty sort of
substance.

The abdomen consists of a number of horny segments which are joined
together by an elastic membrane, a construction which enables the insect
to extend its body several centimetres beyond its normal extent. It can
also be increased in thickness.

The front and middle feet of this insect are short and weak, but the
length, strength, and formation of the hind legs enable it to take
extraordinary leaps. A full-grown locust can jump seven or eight feet in
height, whilst it is said to be able to leap more than 200 times the
length of its body.

The female is normally larger by 1/4 or 1/2 inch in length than the
male, and has a rather thicker body.

The average length of the migratory locust is from 2-1/2 to 3 inches and
about 3/8 inch in thickness in the abdomen. Locusts generally lay their
eggs in the spring, and the manner in which the females, having selected
a favourable site, make an excavation in the earth for depositing their
eggs is intensely interesting and wonderful.

At the very extremity of the abdomen the female has two pairs of horny
valves or hooks, each pair placed back to back with their points
directed outwards, and arranged so that all four hooks can be brought
with their points close together. By this means a sharp pointed lever is
formed which can be turned around, evolved, and forked. With this
apparatus she drills a small hole and by means of a series of muscular
efforts and the continuing opening and closing of the valves provided
with the formation of the abdomen, she actually bores to a depth of 6 to
7 centimetres, or about 3 inches. Here she deposits her eggs--normally
about eighty--regularly arranged in a long cylindrical mass and
envelopes them in a spumous or sort of glutinous secretion, so that the
whole are quite tapped up and level with the surface of the ground. This
substance when dried is more or less impassable and affords protection
to the eggs from the elements and secures an easy outlet to the surface
for the young locust when hatched. The eggs resemble in shape grains of
small rice and are about 1/4 inch long.

The eggs hatch in from twenty-five to sixty days, usually about forty
days, but the period may vary a little according to temperature,
humidity, etc. The young locusts are known as "hoppers," in which stage
they pass some forty-five or fifty days before arriving at the full