644 



FAMILY VIII.- 



JKYLLin.E. THE CRICKETS. 



Z>b. Apex of hind tibiae armed with seven spines, four on inner and 



three on outer side; processes of front trochanters knife-shaped, 



curved, acute. 308. MAJOR. 



aa. Apical half of hind tibia? armed above on inner margin with three or 



four long spines; processes of front trochanters curved, acute. 



309. GRYLLOTALPA. 



307. GRYLLOTALPA HEXADACTYLA Perty, 1832, 119. Common Mole Cricket. 

 Size medium for the genus; form robust. Cinnamon-brown or darker, 

 covered with short fine hairs of the same hue; claws and veins of tegmina 

 darker; occiput and abdomen more or less blotched with fuscous. Ocelli 

 small, ovate, located between the upper inner margins of the eyes. Dactyls 

 (fingers) of the fore tibiae stout, curving outward, the outer movable ones 

 the longer. Tegmina covering one-half to three-fourths of abdomen; 

 wings slightly exceeding tegmina in short-winged form, extending beyond 

 tip of abdomen in long-winged form (Columbia Scudder). Anal cerci 

 nearly one-half longer than pronotum. Length of body, $ and 9, 21 30; 

 of pronotum, 7.5 10.5; of tegmina, 6.5 12; of hind fe- 

 mora, 68.2; of cerci, 9.513 mm. (Fig. 212.) 



This, the G. lorroUs of my former work 

 (1903, 411) and of most American authors, is a 

 common insect in suitable localities throughout 

 Indiana, though unknown to most of the inhabi- 

 tants of the State. About one-third of those taken 

 have the wings elongate, extending beyond the 

 abdomen as shown in Fig. 212. On one occasion 

 a log deeply buried in the sand on the southern 

 shore of Lake Maxinkuckee was overturned and 

 nine specimens were secured. Of these six were 

 long-winged and three short-winged. 



In the moist mud and sand along the margins 

 of the smaller streams and ponds the runs or burrows of this 

 cricket, exactly like those of a mole though much smaller, can in 

 late summer and early autumn be seen by those interested enough 

 to search for them. The burrows are, in the main, very superfi- 

 cial, lying just beneath the surface and running in very irregular 

 directions. They frequently fork, and often end beneath a stone 

 or small stick. The insects themselves are seldom seen, as they 

 are nocturnal, forming their burrows by night, and scarcely ever 

 emerging from beneath the ground. Moreover, like a mole, they 

 move backward as readily as forward, and so easily escape their 

 enemies. Apparently one insect, or a single pair occupy these bur- 

 rows; the males, though several are often heard at the same time, 

 being usually at quite a distance apart. 



The burrows occasionally enlarge into side cavities large 

 enough for the insect to turn around, and in such lateral chambers 



Fig. 212. Long- 

 winged male. 



