The brood of a single phalangium is
sometimes three hundred in number. The spider attains its full
growth in about four weeks.
28
Grasshoppers (or locusts) copulate in the same way as other
insects; that is to say, with the lesser covering the larger, for
the male is smaller than the female. The females first insert the
hollow tube, which they have at their tails, in the ground, and then
lay their eggs: and the male, by the way, is not furnished with this
tube. The females lay their eggs all in a lump together, and in one
spot, so that the entire lump of eggs resembles a honeycomb. After
they have laid their eggs, the eggs assume the shape of oval grubs
that are enveloped by a sort of thin clay, like a membrane; in this
membrane-like formation they grow on to maturity. The larva is so soft
that it collapses at a touch. The larva is not placed on the surface
of the ground, but a little beneath the surface; and, when it
reaches maturity, it comes out of its clayey investiture in the
shape of a little black grasshopper; by and by, the skin integument
strips off, and it grows larger and larger.
The grasshopper lays its eggs at the close of summer, and dies
after laying them.
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