708 



KA.M ILY VIII. UUYLLIDvE. THE CRICKETS. 



Fig. 2,19. Female. 

 (After Lugger.) 



femora, pale brown except the tip, which is darker. Length of body, $ , 

 16.5, $,15; of pronotum, $ and 9, 3.5; of tegmina, 11; of hind femora, 

 10; of ovipositor, 12 mm. (Fig. 239.) 



The "house cricket' 7 or "cricket of the 

 hearth" appears to be scarce in Indiana. 

 Until January 1, 11)03, I had in my collection 

 but three specimens, two long-winged males 

 and a short-winged female, taken from be- 

 neath rubbish in a gravel pit near West 

 Terre Haute, Vigo County, in October, 1894. 

 On the later date mentioned I secured a do/- 

 en or more adults and nymphs in a green- 

 house just north of the city of Indianapolis. 

 The proprietor informed me that the males 

 utter their call note throughout the winter 

 and that the insect is seemingly most abun- 

 dant at that season. It has also been noted 

 near Bainbridge, Putnam County by J. S. 

 Michaels. 



This is an ( )ld AYorld cricket and prob- 

 ably occurs sparingly in most of the states east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, though recorded from the south only from "Carolina," 

 Georgia, Alabama and Texas. Scudder states that he has seen no 

 short-winged specimens from the United States, though they arc 

 < ommon in Europe. It is probable that in many instances the 

 so-called "house-crickets" of the present country homes are field 

 crickets, especially G. luctuosus, which have striven to prolong 

 their existence by seeking shelter within the domiciles of man. 

 ^larlatt (1890, 52) has given the following pleasing account of 

 the habits of this house cricket : 



"In Europe, and in some parts of the United States, no insect inhabit- 

 ants of dwellings are better known than these domestic or house crickets, 

 not so much from observation of the insects themselves as from familiarity 

 with their vibrant, shrilling song notes. These notes, while thoroughly 

 inharmonious in themselves, are, partly from the difficulty in locating the 

 songster, often given a superstitious significance and taken, according to 

 the mood of the listener, to be either a harbinger of good and indicative of 

 cheerfulness and plenty, or to give rise to melancholy and to betoken mis- 

 fortune. The former idea prevails, however, and Cowper expresses the 

 common belief that the 



'Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh. 

 Yet heard in scenes where peace forever reigns, 

 And only there, please highly for their sake.' 



"The house cricket usually occurs on the ground floor of dwellings and 

 evinces its liking for warmth by often occurring in the vicinity of fire- 



