GRYLLUS DOMESTICUS. 141 



the tails absent ; but this is a very rare form, Brunner 

 havino* heard of it only from Egypt. Burr found at 



O v Ot/i. 



Radley examples with one wing abbreviated and the 

 other perfectly developed. As the organs of flight 

 may be damaged in combat, a casual examination may 

 sometimes lead to a false conclusion in these and other 

 pugnacious insects. 



DATE.- -Owing to the artificial conditions under 

 which the house-cricket lives in Britain, it has lost 

 touch with the seasons, and examples in all stages of 

 growth may be found together. 



HABITS, ETC.- -For the well-being of G. domesticus a 

 high temperature seems to be necessary ; at any rate 

 it chooses the warmest corners of kitchens and bake- 

 houses for its habitation, and for this reason prefers 

 the bakehouse to the dwelling-house. It feeds on 

 rubbish, refuse, bread, etc., and seems to have a 

 partiality for sweets. To this last liking may perhaps 

 l}e due the fact that, as Curtis says, " it may be 

 captured, like wasps, by bottles filled with beer." 

 Living in so high a temperature the cricket may be 

 expected to be a thirsty creature, hence perhaps the 

 accusation brought against it of gnawing the wet linen 

 and other materials hung up in the kitchen to dry. 



Ray says that both sexes fly with an undulating 

 motion, like the woodpecker's, alternately ascending 

 with expanded wings and descending with folded ones, 

 or, "volatu -undoso 9 as Gilbert White says. They 

 sometimes disappear from one house and as suddenly 

 reappear in another, and this migration may have 

 taken place by flight. Crickets, however, burrow in 

 soft mortar (especially in newly-built houses) in order 

 to get from room to room,* and perhaps may by this 

 means sometimes migrate from house to house. 



Saussure, Scudder, and others have discussed the 

 means by which crickets produce their well-known 

 chirping. The elytra are elevated so as to form an 



* Kirby & Spence, ii, p. 362. 



