Breeding Cage Observations
After you have learned all you can about the habits of the grasshopper in the field, catch a few of them and take them home and put them in a glass fruit jar. Collect green leaves for them and watch them feed. Watch their method of feeding closely and see how it differs from that of a horse or a cow. How do they move about in the jar? Which legs are used in walking? What do they do with the jumping legs while walking? Do they use their wings at all while in the jar? Watch them wash their face and feet after feeding. Give them leaves of different plants, especially of field and garden crops and determine which they like best. Can you find any plant which they will not eat? Find out how fast they feed and considering the life of any one individual to be 200 days, calculate the number of grass blades each individual may eat. Are the feelers used while in the jar, and if so for what purpose?
Study of Specimen
Take a grasshopper from the jar and examine it carefully. Count the number of legs, wings and joints in the body. How many joints in the legs? Examine the tip of the foot for a soft pad and on either side of it a strong hook. What are these used for? What are the sharp spines on the side of the hind-legs for? Examine the side of the body and see if you can find the small breathing pores. How do the legs join the body? Where are the wings attached? How broad are the wings as compared with the body? How are they folded? Are the two pairs of wings alike? Which is used most in flying? Is the head firmly attached to the body? Examine the large eyes; where are they found? Will grasshoppers bite you while handling them? What is the brown juice which escapes from the mouth when disturbed? How long are the feelers as compared with the body? Can you tell the males from the females? What is the distinction? Do they ever make music? Examine for all the foregoing points and write a brief report covering these. Make a careful drawing of a grasshopper from one side; also make an enlarged drawing of the face of a grasshopper and name the parts.
Chapter IV
THE HOUSE FLY OR TYPHOID FLY
In the house fly we find one of man's most deadly foes. War can not compare with the campaigns of disease and death waged by this most filthy of all insects. In our recent strife with Spain we lost a few lives in battle, but we lost many more in hospitals due to contagious diseases, in the transmission of which this pest played a most important part.
The fly is dangerous on account of its filthy habits. It breeds in filth, feeds on filth in open closets, slop-barrels, on the streets and in back alleys and then comes into the house and wipes this germ-laden filth on our food or on the hands or even in the mouths of helpless babies. Who has not seen flies feeding on running sores on animals, or on "spit" on sidewalks? These same flies the next minute may be feeding on fruits or other food materials. We rebel when pests destroy our crops or attack our stock, but here we have a pest which endangers our very lives, and the lives of those dear to us.
