I am amazed at their expanse when I think of the miserable stumps from which they have expanded.

How did so much material contrive to occupy so little space?
There is a story of a grain of hemp-seed that contained all the body-linen of a princess.

Here we have something even more astonishing.
The hemp-seed of the story needed long years to germinate, to multiply, and at last to give the quantity of hemp required for the trousseau of a princess; but the germ of the locust's wing has expanded to a magnificent sail in a few short hours.
Slowly the superb erection composed of the four flat fan-like pinions assumes rigidity and colour.

By to-morrow the colour will have attained the requisite shade.

For the first time the wings close fan-wise and lie down in their places; the elytra bend over at their outer edges, forming a flange which lies snugly over the flanks.