183 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



into the world, Minerva-like, ready-armed. The 

 spawning season is between October and May, 

 the developement of the fry requiring about two 

 months. J- E. Taylor. 



THE GREEN EIELD-CRICKET. 



[Gryllus viridissmns^ 



SEEING a paper in a recent number of Science- 

 Gossip (p. 59), on this interesting insect, has 

 induced me to write a few lines upon the subject, 

 which 1 trust may be interesting to the writer, 

 " E. A. M." ; and as she craves further information 

 on the subject, I trust this will have the desired 

 effect. 



This beautiful, and by no means rare insect, is 

 one of tlie largest of the "merry" tribe desig- 

 nated Crickets, and cannot fail to attract the 

 attention of the most jiivenile of entomologists. 

 The males in the months of July and August 

 enliven the summer evening rambles with their 

 shrill music ; the females are, however, much less 

 noisy, only uttering a low call, whilst that of tlie 

 males is a continuous song. I have more than once 

 been deceived, whilst listening to the singing of 

 this insect, with regard to the distance he is off, 

 for there is a peculiarity in the sound, which leads 

 one to judge that he is very near, yet you may go 

 on for yards further ere you get to the spot 

 where the Grylhcs is going through his performance. 

 Should you be fortunate enough to catch a sight 

 of him and wish to make him yours, you must 

 approach him with the utmost caution, for if he 

 hears the least sound, he at once ceases his song, 

 and deigns not to resume it until " silence reigns 

 supreme." I have also observed that when one of 

 these insects takes up his abode in a certain bush, 

 lie seldom wanders far away from his chosen haunt, 

 but goes through his performance at sunset' 

 evening after evening, in the selfsame spot. I l)ave 

 on several occasions, whilst out in search of Lepi- 

 doptera, taken three, and even four, of these insects 

 in an evening, but I have never, except on one 

 occasion, taken a female, which may be easily dis- 

 tinguished by its long ovipositor. My mode of 

 capturing him has been to follow the sound, and to 

 approach as cautiously as possible until the creature 

 is discovered, which is not always an easy matter, 

 on account of its near resemblance in colour to the 

 herbage, and if possible to get behind him, and 

 gently take him by the tip of the wings between the 

 forefinger and thumb, which, however, requires no 

 small amount of caution, for if he catches sight of 

 his enemy, he gives one good spring and is quickly 

 out of si^ht, and you may hear him a few minutes 

 after singing away as merrily as if nothing had 

 happened. On one occasion I was greeted with 

 rather a sharpish bite for my trouble, for these 



little creatures are quite capable of giving you an 

 unpleasant nip, if you do not display a little care in 

 taking them, and I was not aware, before this, that 

 they had a tendency that way. One thing must be 

 avoided,— putting two into the same box. together, 

 for they are pugnacious little fellows, and will fight 

 vigorously until one of them comes off short of 

 some appendage ; even that will not cause him to 

 retire from the field. 



If kept, these creatures will often become very 

 tame and live for a long time in confinement, and 

 will sing away as merrily as if in their native corn- 

 fields or "hedgerows. As in the case of " E. A. M.," 

 I have fed them with small flies, which they readily 

 devour, and with evident gusto, and occasionally, by 

 Avay of change a piece of apple, which they also 

 relish ; in fact, scarcely anything comes amiss to 

 these voracious little creatures ; and, alas ! they will 

 often prove cannibals, and devour one another. I 

 have many a time been greatly amused in watching 

 their actions, particularly that mentioned in Mr. 

 Ulyett's paper as "cleaning its teeth," which 

 seems an important process— whatever it may be 

 —in the life of Gryllus viridissinms. You may 

 often observe him gnawing away at a blade of grass 

 in the same manner as a caterpillar, beginning at 

 the top and working downwards. My first speci- 

 men I put into a cage with the sides of glass, and 

 a black muslin top, but he amused himself by gnaw- 

 ing the muslin through, and soon effected an exit. 



It would be interesting to know how the peculiar 

 sound made by this creature is caused, for many and 

 varied are the opinions of authors with regard to 

 tlie origin of the sound. " In the mule," says De 

 Geer, " in that part of the right elytrum which is 

 folded horizontally over the trunk, there is a round 

 plate made of very fine transparent membrane, re- 

 sembling a little mirror, or piece of talc, of the 

 tension of a drum. Tliis membrane is surrounded 

 by a strong and prominent nervure, and is concealed 

 beneath the fold of the left elytrum, which has also 

 several prominent nervures, answering to the margin 

 of the membrane. There is," he further remarks, 

 " every reason to believe that the brisk movement 

 with which the grasshopper rubs these nervures 

 against each other produces a vibration in the mem- 

 brane, augmenting the sound. The males in question 

 sing continuously in the hedges and trees during 

 the months of July and August, especially to- 

 wards sunset and part of the night : when any one 

 approaches, they immediately cease their song." 



li. Laddiuian. 



THE WOOD SPIDER. 



rpHE following is fronr the March number of the 

 -L " Cape Monthly Magazine," published in Cape 

 Town :— " While wandering over the wooded hills 

 of the Kleinemond River, with my net and port- 



