Prococenes I or II (20–100 μg/insect) were topically applied to third instar nymphs of the grasshepper, Heteracris littoralis. Both compounds led to different degrees of precocious metamorphosis, irreversible with time, at the subsequent moults. Precocene-treated third instar nymphs gave rise to precocious adults at the following moult, though some of the nymphs responded and metamorphosed precociously in the fifth instar. Ovarian development was inhibited by precocene II. Meanwhile, juvenile hormone (20/μg/insect) restored normal ovarian development to some extent.