Part 26

So they are, and you have not yet heard all they can do.

The funniest is to come.

Mr. Grasshopper sings his song with his hind legs!

He rubs the inside of his femurs against the outside of his wings.

There is a row of very fine spines down the inside of the femur for the use of the little fiddler.

He scrapes away with these on his wing covers.

Yes, Ned, his femur is his violin bow, and his wing cover is his violin.

The noise he makes does not sound much like a violin, little Nell thinks.

No, indeed, it does not.

It is the shrilling sound we hear in the grass in the summer time.

It is only the male grasshopper that sings.

The little lady grasshopper sits still and listens to him.

Now, let us look at the other legs.

The front pair are the smallest.

Can you find the little coxa and trochanter?

Yes, Charlie, we will draw the little front leg.

Let us number the segments as we did those of the hind leg.

See, the femur is larger than the other segments, but it is small as compared to the femur of the hind leg.

The tibia is shorter, too, than the tibia of the hind leg.

The little tarsus is like the tarsus of the hind leg with its claws and its pulvillus, only, of course, it is smaller.

The middle pair of legs is like the front pair, only larger.

Now, see how the legs are placed on the grasshopper's body.

The front pair are directed forward. When the insect walks, they pull.

The middle and hind legs are directed backward. When the insect walks, they push.

Well, little legs, you all have your own work to do, and you surely do it very well.

Let me see, who has front legs as odd as the grasshopper's hind legs.

Yes, Mollie, the mantis has.

Let us look again at the mantis.