| OCR Text |
Show Investigating the Grasshopper. The grasshopper is in a fair way to be investigated, both on his native heath and in the prairie region. Dr. Emil Brendel of Fremont, 111., has been dieeecting the hopper under the microscope. Judging from the cupac ily ol its alimentary canal tho insect can digest one and a half times its own weight in twenty-four hours. From the contents of the ovary, it iB calculated that the female grasshopper grasshop-per may lay eight hundred eggs. The ovipositor is a horny cylinder, which is used to peoetrnte the ground to a depth of three or four inches. Even when the ground is very hard the ovipositor ovi-positor can be forced into it. The eggs are laid in large clumps, and are stuck together by a kind of glue. Dr. Brendell thicks that a most elloctive means of diminishing grasshoppers would be found in planting the plains with trees and hedges, so that the birds could dwell there. He ii of the opinion that the grasshoppers would not lunch upou walnut or hickory trees, or the huzel Bhrub. The difficulty diffi-culty in carrying out this project is that the plains are mostly too dry to permit the growth ot trees. Springfield Spring-field Union. |
