Every now and then great swarms of grasshoppers have appeared in certain places and devastated the land. They are mentioned in the Bible among the seven plagues of Egypt. But every year, in most parts of the world, they do thousands of dollars worth of damage to crops.

There are many varieties of grasshoppers but they look very much alike. They all have strong jaws, three pairs of legs, and usually have two pairs of wings. The first pair of wings is leathery and straight, while the second pair is membranous and folds underneath the first pair. The hind pair of legs, which are used for jumping, are usually long and well developed.

The female grasshopper has an organ for laying eggs at the tip of her abdomen. This organ is called an ovipositor. Katydids have long sword-shaped ovipositors. Some locusts poke holes in the ground with their ovipositors, lay the eggs there, and cover them with a gummy substance. Some katydids cut slits in stems for their eggs, an some lay their eggs in rows on leaves.

Grasshoppers are divided into two general groups: the long-horne and the short-horne. The short-horne grasshoppers are sometimes known as “locusts” and include the common brown field grasshoppers. They have short antennae, short ovipositors, and three jointed feet. They “sing” by rubbing their hindlegs across their forewings. Their “ears” are on their abdomens at the base of the hind legs.

The longhorn grasshoppers, which include the green meadow grasshoppers, the noisy katydids, and the cricket-like, wingless kind, have antennae which are much longer than their bodies and four-jointed feet. Only the males “sing,” producing the sound by rubbing the bases of the forewings together.

In a few countries, grasshoppers are used as food, but most people try to get rid of them.