The Grasshoppers

By Al Lowe
Contributor

"For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees; and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt" Exodus 10:15.
This Biblical quotation is a very accurate description of a plaque of locusts, insects which we commonly call grasshoppers. For most of the time in our part of the world, grasshoppers remain in check. Severe winters, early and late frosts, and especially our bird residents keep them under control.
But in some areas, once in a while, we get a population explosion. Everything seems to be just right for them, and they multiply at an enormous rate. Countless millions of them darken the sky, they make the highways greasy with their bodies, and they get into every house and building. And they eat and eat - anything which is green. The land is literally bare.
There are many famous locust plaques in history, such as the one visited on the Egypt of the Pharaohs. There was the one in Utah, where the great flocks of gulls appeared, ate the grasshoppers, and saved the Mormon colony from starvation. There is a great, tall monument to the gull in Salt Lake City.
Grasshoppers, like all insects, have six legs. The hind ones are fitted for jumping. They are always 'cocked' so he can hop in a fraction of a second. He doesn't have to depend on hopping, though. He is also a very respectable flier, and can travel hundreds of miles if necessary.
Grasshoppers have two pairs of wings. The under pair are the flying wings, and fold up like an old-fashioned lady's fan. The outer pair are hard and leathery and serve as protection for the soft body underneath.
These insects lay their eggs in a little hole in the ground. This is how they winter over from one year to the next. The eggs hatch into little tiny grasshoppers without wings, called nymphs. As they grow, they shed their skins many times, and the wings gradually take shape and get larger. Finally they are mature, ready to lay more eggs and complete the cycle.
Many of the grasshoppers family are musical. Crickets are well known for this. A cricket singing on your health is supposed to bring you good fortune. The katydids are quite melodious, and the grasshopper himself strums quite a pleasant tune. Some of the species have several different songs, and some even sing in a chorus, like a choir. Only the males are singers and they do it by rubbing special parts of their hind legs.
Grasshoppers are some of our most common and yet complex insects. From the delight of a child, catching one on the lawn, to the immense plaques of history, they influence our lives much more than we realize.
With the first heavy frost, they will be gone.