Evening star., 1945-07-29
Uncle Rays
Corner
BY Ramon Cofman-

In the British Museum in Lon
don, there are many statues which
date back to ancient times. These
include relics of Egypt, Babylonia,
Assyria, Greece and Rome.
One interesting object is a bit OF
sculpture which shows an Assyrian
with "grasshopper stick" in each
of his hands. One stick has eight
grasshoppers fastened to it, and the
other has H. The insects are shown
in even rows.
That much we know, but there
is some question about the meaning
which the sculptor meant to give
when he carved out the panel. 1t
has been suggested that the As
syrian was a royal servant, and
that the grasshoppers were on their
way to be served to the king as food.
If that idea is right, the Assyrians
believed that grasshoppers made
"a dish fit for the king"
Eaten in Africa.
Whatever we're the customs in
Assyria, it is we'll known that grass
hoppers have supplied food in a
number of countries, chiefly Africa.
The Zulus in Southern Africa are
among the tribesmen who cook and
eat them. Some American Indians
of the Western plains used to enjoy
meals of roasted grasshoppers. In
parts of the Philippine Islands
grasshopers are served as food.
There are two main kinds of
grasshoppers-the short-horned and
the long-horned. These names came
from the so-called horns" which
stand out from the heads Of grass
hoppers. True horns, of course, do
not grow on grasshoppers. The OBJ
jects are feelers or antennae. Long
horned grasshoppers have feelers
which are longer than their bodies,
A grasshopper can crawl, jump
and fly. 1t has six legs and four
wings. When it is at rest, this insect
shows only it's two large outer wings.
The other wings are folded and
hidden from sight.
The food of grasshoppers is made
up largely of grass and the leaves
of growing plants.
Hawks Among Enemies.
While they go about looking for
food. grasshoppers are in danger
of attacks by many enemies. Among
their special enemies are hawks.
blackbirds and crows. Frogs and
toads also destroy grasshoppers and
so do certain wasps.
In parts of the world where VIM
ters are cold, grasshoppers die by
the end of the warm season. This
does not mean, however, that the
race dies. The females have one
last task. Before the weather grows
too cold, each female makes little
hole in the ground, perhaps an
inch deep, and there places batch
of eggs. Usually the number of eggs
is between Is and 40, but some
grasshoppers lay as many as 100 or
125 eggs.
In the spring the eggs hatch, and
young grasshoppers known as
"nymphs' dig their way out of
their holes. The nymphS look some
what like their parents but are
much smaller and at first have no
wings.
Shed Their Skins.
AS the weeks pass, the nymphs
shed their outer skins. In other
words. they go through molts. After
several molts they become full
grown grasshoppers, fitted with
wings which will carry them where
they want to 60.
Grasshoppers differ in size when
full grown. Some have bodies
scarcely half an inch long, but
others reach length of more than
an inch.
Meadow grasshoppers are among
the long-horned members of the
family, and so are katydids. Katy
dds spend their time almost en-
tirely in trees. Short-horned grass
hoppers gather in swarms and have
the special name of 'locusts.'