LOCUST. 
141 
fbrs greatly from the. rest. It is of an uncouth;, 
and even formidable aspect, measuring more 
than two inches in length; and is of abroad and 
slightly flattened shape, of a dusky brown colour, 
with a ferruginous cast on the under parts, and is 
readily distinguished by the extraordinary struc- 
ture of its fore-legs, tvhich are excessively strongs, 
and furnished with very broad feet divided into 
several sharp, claw-shaped segments, with which it 
is enabled to burrow under ground in the manner 
of a Mole: the lower wings, which, when ex- 
panded, are very large, are, in their usual state, 
so complicated under the very short and small 
upper-wings or sheaths, that their ends alone ap- 
pear, reaching,, in a sharpened form, along the 
middle of the back; the abdomen is terminated 
by a pair of sharp-pointed, lengthened, hairy pro- 
cesses, nearly equalling the length of the antennae 
in front, and contributing to give this animal an 
appearance in some degree similar to that of a 
Blatta. 
The Mole-Cricket emerges from its subterrane- 
ous retreats only by night, when it creeps about 
the surface, and occasionally employs its wings in 
flight. It prepares for its eggs an oval nest, mea- 
suring about two inches in its longest diameter; 
this nest is’ situated a hand’s breadth below the 
surface of the ground: it is accurately smoothed 
within, and is furnished wdth an obliquely curved 
passage leading to the surface. The eggs are 
about two hundred and fifty or three hundred in 
number, nearly round, of a deep brownish yellow 
