Part 28

Ah! these roof wings are not what the locust flies with at all.

See, folded up under them is a pair of delicate gauzy wings.

If we are careful, we can spread them out.

We will use this dead grasshopper that Charlie has found.

What pretty wings! So dainty! And how cleverly they are folded up, like little fans.

Who would imagine such delicate gauzy wings were folded away under the hard, stiff roof wings.

The roof wings are called wing covers, because they cover up these pretty inner wings.

The locust does not fly with the wing covers.

It spreads them out wide to get them out of the way.

It flies with the inner wings.

How pretty the flying wings are when they are spread out!

See, over there goes a grasshopper whose flying wings are bright yellow.

And there goes another with red flying wings.

Some of the grasshoppers are almost as pretty as butterflies when they are flying.

They show their gay inner wings only during flight.

As soon as the grasshopper comes to rest the inner wings close of themselves.

The wing joints act like springs.

The grasshopper does not have to think about shutting up its wings.

John says it has a spring in its wing covers too.

Open the wing cover.

There, it locks itself, as it were, and stays open without any effort on the part of the grasshopper.

You see the grasshopper wants its wing covers to stay open and out of the way of the inner wings when it flies.

So it just opens them, and there they are.

It moves the inner wings very fast indeed when it is flying. It would not do at all for them to be fastened open.

If it did not move them, it could not fly. The wings fairly whirr, they go so fast. They beat against the air, and thus the grasshopper is pushed along through the air.

As soon as it is done flying it stops moving the wings, and they instantly close of themselves.

Then it unlocks the wing covers and they shut down over the inner wings. They shut down very tightly. They overlap, as you can see, just below where they are fastened to the insect's body. Thus they form a very good roof.

What wonderful wings the grasshopper has!