2 54 THE NA TURESTUD Y RE VIE W [2 . 7 _ OCT . I9o6 



fragments of food removed, nothing remained but the soil contain- 

 ing the very numerous eggs. 



The jar remained upon a vacant desk not far from a radiator, 

 where it had been placed so that the pupils might go, one at a time, 

 and sit and watch the actions of the crickets. The soil was kept 

 damp, and about 70 in temperature. Just before the Christmas holi- 

 days the first little cricket appeared. From then until April new ones 

 continually hatched, the jar seeming fairly alive, crickets walking, 

 running, burrowing everywhere. As soon as the first hatched, grass 

 seed was sown. As this did not suffice when the numbers increased, 

 oats were also sown and even their vigorous growth was kept well 

 eaten down. Sweet corn was soaked and put in, the young crickets 

 eating it before it had time to grow. Lumps of sugar, as wel 

 as other foods which the adults had eaten, were furnished. 



When first hatched, also just after molting, the young were nearly 

 the color of the eggs, a rather light buff, sometimes tinged with pink 

 or flesh color. The molting was seen many times, occasionally it 

 took place upon the lump of sugar which afforded a good background. 

 The change to black or dark brown was usually complete in an hour. 

 The split skin was sometimes left on a blade of grass, but sometimes 

 there was difficulty in getting free from the skin and then after the 

 head and body had emerged, the hind legs might be pulled out and 

 used in kicking the skin from the other legs. 



At first there was no indication of sex, but in about eight or nine 

 weeks the wing-pads began to show and at the next moult the females 

 showed a short egg-tube which grew in length from a stubby little 

 projection to the natural mature length. It was between eleven 

 and twelve weeks when those first hatched showed their true wings 

 and the males began to "sing." The first one, however, made a very 

 slight sound as his wings were injured in coming out of the skin at 

 the final molt. 



Finally, the numbers decreased so rapidly that it was deemed best 

 to let the crickets out in the spring instead of keeping them for the 

 laying of eggs, as had been planned. 



( )ne child repeated the experiment successfully at home. 



The jar should be kept free from superfluous food and well venti- 

 lated so that there will be no bad odors. 



The teacher of the room says: "It is the most interesting thing I 

 ever tried. I advise other teachers to do the same. The only trou- 

 ble is that sometimes it is almost too fascinating:. 



