Nature biographies; the lives of some every-day butterflies; moths; grasshoppers and flies . wig each side so as to forman edge. This operation isaccompanied by a suddennervous shake of the bodyfrom side to side, and lastssometimes but two or threeminutes, sometimes morethan ten. When the opera-tion is accomplished to hersatisfaction, she clutches withher front feet the stem to beused, and anchors the middleand hindmost feet for themost part upon contiguousleaves or branches, and oftenquite wide apart. Then, if shehas her head in an upwarddirection (for it seems to beimmaterial to her whether
Nature biographies; the lives of some every-day butterflies; moths; grasshoppers and flies . wig each side so as to forman edge. This operation isaccompanied by a suddennervous shake of the bodyfrom side to side, and lastssometimes but two or threeminutes, sometimes morethan ten. When the opera-tion is accomplished to hersatisfaction, she clutches withher front feet the stem to beused, and anchors the middleand hindmost feet for themost part upon contiguousleaves or branches, and oftenquite wide apart. Then, if shehas her head in an upwarddirection (for it seems to beimmaterial to her whether theeggs are placed from below up or vice versa), she begins at the lower end of the rough-ened portion of the twig, and after fretting it anew withher jaws and measuring and feeling it over and overagain with her palpi, as if to assure herself that all is asit should be, she slowly — with much apparent effort, andnot without letting it partly fall several times — curls theabdomen under until the lower edge of the curved ovi-positor is brought betw^een the jaws and palpi, by which 137. Fig. 127. — A Common Katydid. Nature Biographies. it is grasped and guided to the right position. It is thenworked sHghtly up and down for from four to six min-utes— ah the time guided by the jaws, — while a shinyviscid fluid is given out apparently from the , after a few seconds rest or suspension of thiswork, the Qgg gradually rises, and as it passes betweenthe ovipositor turns so that the one end appears almostsimultaneously from betw^een the convex edge with theother from the lower tip of the blades. The egg adheresto the roughened bark in an oblique position. After the tgg is placed the abdomen is straightenedout and the insect rests for a few moments, soon, how-ever, to resume her efforts and repeat the like performancein every particular except that the second egg is placedon the opposite side of the twig and a little above thefirst one. The third egg is pushed i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1901
