GRYLLOTALPA GEYLLOTALPA. 127 



told him that one of his people, seeing a Jack-o 9 lantern, 

 pursued it and knocked it down, when it proved to be 

 the insect shown to him. Since there seems no reason 

 for doubting the record, perhaps we may presume that 

 this particular insect was rendered luminous through 

 being attacked by a fungus. 



Meadows, peat-bogs, and damp ground generally 

 seem to be the favourite habitat of the mole-cricket ; 

 consequently the sides of ponds, streams, and canals 

 suit them well. AYhere they are plentiful they may 

 invade potato-fields, gardens, hot-beds, and dunghills. 

 Samouelle says that though horse-dun Q* attracts them, 



/ 



hog's dung expels them. If they get into cultivated 

 ground in any numbers they do much damage by 

 burrowing underground and devouring the roots and 

 tubers. In France they damage the roots of the grass. 

 They, however, will eat animal food. Staveley says 

 they have been known to attack and devour each other ! 

 In captivity Burr fed them on potatoes, turnips, meat, 

 etc., keeping them in cages, but taking the precaution 

 of separating individuals to prevent fighting and 

 mutilation. So far as the British Isles are concerned 

 it seems scarcely necessary to state that " they may be 

 killed by pouring boiling water mixed with a little oil 

 into their holes ; they then come up to die ' (Burr). 



Gilbert White,* who seems to have had an excep- 

 tional opportunity of observing this insect at Selborne, 

 says : " GryUus gri/llo t<.dpa (the mole-cricket) haunts 

 moist meadows, and frequents the sides of ponds and 

 banks of streams, performing all its functions in a 

 swampy wet soil. With a pair of fore-feet, curiously 

 adapted to the purpose, it burrows and works under 

 ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it proceeds, 

 but seldom throwing up hillocks. 



"As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides 

 of canals, they are unwelcome guests to the gardener, 

 raising up ridges in their subterranean progress, and 

 rendering the walks unsightly. If they take to the 



* ' Nat, Hist, of Selborne/ Letter xlviii, 1789. 



