FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS, 



femora are slender. These insects are almost never seen 

 above ground except at the mating season when they are 

 sometimes attracted to lights. They usually live in rather 

 damp soil and, in some countries, do great damage by 

 eating the roots of seedling crops; this is true of the 

 "Changa" in Porto Rico. The female has no prominent 

 ovipositor but places her eggs in a loose pile in her burrow. 

 A related genus, Tridactylus, contains species less than 

 .4 in. long; the front tibiae are not broadly expanded but 

 have three or four spines at the apex; hind femora slender; 

 tarsi with only one joint. 



The large, black species belong to the 



genus Gr y llus ( plate xx ) ; the usuall y more 



numerous, small, brown species are Nemo- 

 bius. The males of both chirp by rubbing the file 011 the 

 under side of one wing against the roughened surface on the 

 upper side of the other. Nemobius is almost altogether 

 vegetarian but I have never quite forgiven the omnivorous 

 Gryllus for eating holes in a bathing suit which was left 

 on the beach to dry. Both genera place their eggs singly 

 in holes which they make in the ground with their sharp- 

 pointed ovipositors. Gryllus is relatively tame; and not 

 only may you watch the male chirping in a desultory 

 fashion near his retreat (such as a burrow or under an old 

 board), or angrily challenging another male to battle, or 

 passionately entreating a female, but you may make pets 

 of them. A lantern globe set on soil in a flower pot makes 

 a good cage; feed them lettuce, moist bread and, especially 

 if you have a numerous family the members of which are 

 inclined to eat each other, some bone meal; if you wish to 

 incubate the eggs, water the soil about as you would for 

 plants. Most of the individuals pass the winter as eggs 

 but some hibernate as almost-mature nymphs. The 

 "Cricket on the hearth" is a light-colored European 

 species (Gryllus domesticus} which is sometimes found in 

 greenhouses and dwellings in this country. 



There are numerous species of these 

 CEcanthus 



delicate, greenish or greenish-white musi- 

 cians, the Tree-crickets. One of the principal specific 



74 



