Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/70

Rh  (H. T.)

 GRASSHOPPER (French Sauterelle, Italian Grillo, German Grashüpfer, Heuschrecke, Swedish Gräshoppa), a collective term applied to certain orthopterous insects belong ing to the families Locustidæ and Acrydiidæ, according to the now generally received classificatory views. They are especially remarkable for their saltatory powers, due to the great development of the hind legs, which are much longer than the others and have stout and powerful thighs, and also for their stridulation, which is not always an attribute with them of the male only. The distinctions between the two families may be briefly stated as follows : the Locustidce have very long thread-like antennae, and four- jointed tarsi; the Acrydiidce have short stout antennas, and three-jointed tarsi. As the term &quot;grasshopper&quot; is almost synonymous with, the subject will be more extensively treated under the. Under both &quot;grasshopper&quot; and &quot;locust&quot; are included members of both families above-noticed, but the majority belong to the Acrydiidce in both cases. In Britain the term 13 chiefly applicable to the large green grasshopper (Locusta viridissima) common in most parts of the south of England, and to smaller and more obscure species of the genera Stenobothrus, Gomphoccrus, and Teitix, the latter remarkable for the great extension of the pronotum, which often reaches beyond the extremity of the body. All are vegetable feeders, and, as in all orthopterous insects, have an incomplete metamorphosis, so that their destructive powers are continuous from the moment of emergence from the egg till death. The notorious migratory locust (Pachy- tylus miyratorius) may be considered only an exaggerated grasshopper, and the too-famous Rocky Mountain locust (Caloptetius spretus) is still more entitled to the name. In Britain the species are not of sufficient size, nor of sum cient numerical importance, to do any great damage, and their cheerful &quot; song &quot; more than counteracts the slight mischief they may cause in devouring grasses and other plants. The colours of many of them assimilate greatly to those of their habitats ; the green of the Locusla viridissima is wonderfully similar to that of the herbage amongst which it lives, and those species that frequent more arid spots are protected in the same manner. Yet many species have brilliantly coloured under-wings (though scarcely so in English forms), and during flight are almost as conspicuous as butterflies ; but when settled it is nearly impossible to detect them, even although the spot where they dropped may have been carefully marked ; and they rise again almost under the feet of the observer. Those that belong to the Acrydiidce mostly lay their eggs in more or less cylindrical masses, surrounded by a glutinous secretion, in the ground. Some of the Locustidce also lay their eggs in the ground, but others deposit them in fissures in trees and low plants, in which the female is aided by a long flattened ovipositor, or process at the extremity of the abdomen, whereas in the Acrydiidce there is only an apparatus of valves. The stridulation or &quot; song &quot; is mainly produced by friction of the hind legs against portions of the wings or wing- covers ; but variation exists in the exact method. To a practised ear it is perhaps possible to distinguish the &quot; song &quot; of even closely allied species, and some are said to produce a sound differing by day and night. The British species are not numerous ; but in some parts of the world (and even in Europe) their numbers are very great, both in .species and individuals.

 GRATIANUS, (-), Roman emperor, son of Valentinianus I,, was born in. In the ninth year of his age he received from his father the title of Augustus, but on his father's death in he was compelled to share the Western empire with his infant brother, Valentinianus II., of whom he was appointed guardian, while his uncle Valens ruled over the Eastern empire. In he gained a victory over the Alemanni near the site of the present town of Colmar. Through the death of Valens in the same year, there devolved upon him the government of the Eastern empire, but feeling himself unable to resist unaided the incursions of the barbarians, he ceded it to Theodosius, January 19,. For some years Gratianus conducted the government of his empire with energy and success, but gradually he sank into indolence and occupied himself chiefly with the pleasures of the chase. By adopt ing as the guards of his person a body of the Alani, and appearing in public in the dress of a Scythian warrior, he awakened the contempt and resentment of his Roman troops. A Roman named Maximus took advantage of this feeling to raise the standard of revolt in Britain, and invaded Gaul with a large army, upon which Gratianus, who was then in Paris, being deserted by his troops, fled to Lyons, where, through the treachery of the governor, he was delivered over to one of the rebel generals and assassinated, August 25,.

 GRATIANUS,, compiler of the Concordia discordantium Canonum or Decretum Gratiani, and founder of the science of, was born about the at Chiusi in Tuscany or, according to another account, at Carraria near Orvieto. In early life he appears to have been received into the Camaldulian monastery of Classe near Ravenna, whence he afterwards removed to that of San Felice in Bologna, where he spent many years in the preparation of the Concordia. The precise date of this important work cannot be ascertained, but it contains references to the decisions of the Lateran council of, and the statement is vouched for by tolerably good authority that it was completed while Pope Alexander III. was still simply professor of theology at Bologna, in other words, prior to. The labours of Gratian are said to have been rewarded with the bishopric of Chiusi, but if so he appears never to have been consecrated; at least his name is not to be found in any authentic list of those who have occupied that see. The year of his death is unknown.

1em

 GRATIUS FALISCUS, a Roman poet, contemporary with Virgil and Ovid, and author of a poem on hunting (Cynf.yetica), of which somewhat more than 536 lines have been preserved. Of his personal history nothing is known ; but it has been doubtfully conjectured from his cognomen that he was a native of Falerii. The only reference to him to be met with in any writer of antiquity (Ovid, Pont., iv. 1G, 33) is of the most incidental kind, and his poem seems very early to have fallen into comparative oblivion. Our knowledge of it is derived chiefly from a manuscript of the, preserved at Vienna, but partly also from one of nearly the same age at Paris. It describes, some what after the manner of Xenophon, various kinds of game, the means to be employed for their pursuit and capture, the best breeds of horses and dogs ; and in doing so it seldom rises above the dull level of the driest technicality, although occasionally there are faint reminiscences of Virgil.

