Robin Craft, age 12, of Billings, Mont., for her question:
HOW MANY EGGS DOES A GRASSHOPPER LAY?
Grasshoppers live in most parts of the world, except in the cold regions near the North and South poles. Female grasshoppers lay as few as two or as many as 120 eggs at a time. The eggs are held together by a sticky substance made by the female's body and are packed into the holes dug by her ovipositor, a sharp part of the rear of her abdomen.
After the eggs are put into a hole, the female sprays more of the sticky material over them. The material hardens quickly into a waterproof covering. The mass of eggs is called a pod. The number of pods a female lays varies among individuals and species.
Most kinds of. grasshoppers begin to lay their eggs in late summer and continue into autumn. The eggs hatch the following spring.
Unlike the young of most other kinds of insects, newborn grasshoppers look like the adults except that they have no wings. During the first 40 to 60 days after birth, the young grasshopper molts or sheds its shell and grows a new one five or six times. The wings grow to full size during the last molt, when the insects reach adulthood.
Grasshoppers live in fields and meadows where they eat plenty of leaves. Some kinds of grasshoppers eat only certain kinds of plants while others eat any plant they can fnd. They destroy whole crops of alfalfa, clover, cotton and corn and other grains.
There are two main groups of grasshoppers: long horned and short horned. The animals are divided according to the length of their antennae or feelers, which are also called horns. Short horned grasshoppers are usually called locusts.
A grasshopper has two pairs of wings. The front wings are narrow and tough and they cover and protect the large, thin hind wings. When the insect rests, its hind wings fold up like fans under its front wings. When a grasshopper flies, the downstroke of the wings gives the insect "lift" and moves it downward. The upstroke helps keep the insect moving until the wings reach the down stroke position.
A grasshopper has six legs and uses all of them when it walks. The front legs hold food when the animal eats. The hind legs are much longer and stronger than the others and have powerful thigh muscles. These muscles supply the force that pushes the insect forward in a leap, or shoots it into the air to fly.
The grasshopper is an insect that can leap about 20 times as far as the length of its body. If a man had that ability, he could leap about 40 yards.
When grasshoppers are handled, they "spit" a brown liquid that many children call "tobacco juice." Some scientists believe this liquid may help protect grasshoppers from attacks by ants and other insects.
The abdomen of a grasshopper expands and contracts to pump air in and out of 10 pairs of breathing holes. These holes, called spiracles, are along the sides of the abdomen and thorax. Tubes branch out of the spiracles and carry air to all parts of the body.