lijc Cauiulian ^iitomolojist. 



VOL. XXIV. LONDON, FEBRUARY, 1892. No. 2. 



ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS— No. 2. 

 The Northern Mole-Cricket ( Gryllotalpa boreaiis, Burm.) 



BY JAMES FLETCHER, OTTAWA, ONT. 



Anyone finding the strange-looking insect shown at fig. i will at 

 once recognize it as the Northern Mole cricket. It is apparently an un- 

 common insect in Canada, and it is partly to ascertain from the readers 

 of the Canadlan Entomologist whether or not this is the case that I am 

 writing these notes upon a specimen which I have had in confinement for 

 some months. I have been trying for years to get living specimens, but 

 only succeeded last autumn when I had a fine female sent to me by Mr. 

 W. W. Hilborn, who had caught it in his garden at Leamington, in Essex 

 County, Ont. A short time afterwards I received from the same locality, 

 from Mr. G. H. Mills, a male, but this was unfortunately injured in transit 

 and died the day after arrival. There is to my mind nothing more interest- 

 ing than keeping insects alive and watching their habits. This, too, after 

 a little experience, becomes an easy matter if their habits are considered. 

 I cannot, however, say that my Mole-cricket has been a very entertaining 

 pet owing to its subterranean and nocturnal habits. I prepared a home 

 for it in a large glass jar, 8 inches in diameter, and filled to the depth ot 

 about a foot with light, rich, sandy loam. Upon this was placed a 

 potato and a small sod of lawn grass. The potato and grass soon threw 

 out vigorous roots which now reach to the bottom of the jar. In the soil 

 were also placed some earth-worms, as the food of Mole-crickets (like that 

 of the other members of the Gryl/idce, or crickets to which it belongs) is 

 of a mixed nature, and they are said to be particularly partial to earth- 

 worms. 



The name Mole-cricket is very appropriate for this insect, it is plainly 

 a cricket, and at the same time its habits and even general appearance, 

 but particularly the form and uses of its strong fore-legs, closely resemble 

 those of the little mammal from which it takes its name. Our excellent 



