648 



FAMILY VIII. GRYLLID.E. THE CRICKETS. 



ents of Orthoptera in the states ineutioued should look for tliis 

 giant mole cricket about the boggy places of ponds, lakes and 

 streams. 



309. GBYLLOTALPA GRYLLOTALPA (Linnaeus), 1758, 428. European Mole 

 Cricket. 



Size large, form robust. Reddish- or brownish-yellow, tinged with 

 fuscous above, pale brownish-yellow beneath. Ocelli very small, subrotund. 

 Antennas scarcely longer than pronotum. Tegmina short, pointed, covering 

 about half the abdomen; wings fully developed, caudate very rarely ab- 

 breviated. Front trochanters produced to a point. Hind tibiae armed as 

 in key. Anal cerci longer than pronotum. Length of body, 35 40; of 

 pronotum, 13; of tegmina, 13 19; of hind femora, 9 11; of anal cerci, 

 14.516 mm. (Fig. 213.) 



This large mole cricket 

 has been introduced and be- 

 come established at a few 

 points in the eastern States. 

 Single adventive specimens 

 have been mentioned by sev- 

 eral authors, Scudder ( 1S69, 

 10) recording one as received 

 in a collection from Ver- 

 mont, but doubted its having 

 been obtained there. Weiss 

 (1015) first recorded its es- 

 tablishment in this country 

 in a nursery at Rutherford, 

 X. Jer., stating that the firm 

 on whose premises they were 

 found claimed to have de- 

 stroyed at least 20,000, in- 

 cluding eggs. Later he and 

 Dickerson (1918) gave an ex- 

 tended account of its occur- 

 rence at Rutherford, stating 

 that : "This infestation, 

 which is undoubtedly of sev- 

 eral years' duration, extends 

 over several acres planted to 

 herbaceous and ornamen- 

 tal stock, a large number 

 of plants being yearly imported from Europe. The soil is rather 

 light and porous and contains a variety of shrubs, shade- 

 trees, etc., such as one would naturally find in a nursery. No 



GOe 



Fig. 213. European Mole Cricket. Male 

 X lo- (After Weiss.) 



