142 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



THE CRICKETS OF ONTARIO. 



BY E. M. WALKER, B.A., M.B., TORONTO. 



The crickets, or Gryllidae, like the other families of Orthoptera, have 



received so little attention from Canadian entomologists that very kw 



species have been reported from the country, and most of these few records 



are of little value, as they were made at a time when the family had been 



little studied, and the species were ill defined. Much has been done of 



late, however, by American entomologists, notably Scudder and Blatchley, 



to unravel these difficulties, although the family is still a very difficult one 



to deal with, and much patience and close observation is necessary in 



order to separate the species satisfactorily. As the writer has paid a good 

 deal of attention to the Orthoptera for the past ten years, a number of 

 species of crickets have been added to the Ontario fauna, and the following 

 notes upon these species may serve as a guide to the further and more 

 complete investigation of the species of Gryllidse in this part of the country. 



Briefly, the Gryllidas may be characterized as follows : They are 

 jumping Orthoptera, in which the body is more or less depressed. The 

 vyjng-covers lie flat upon the dorsal surface of the body, with the outer part 

 bent abruptly downwards at the sides. The tarsi are 3-jointed, without 

 pads between them, and the fore coxae are longer than broad. The antennae 

 are usually long and filiform ; the hearing organ, when present, is situated 

 at the base of the fore tibiae, and the shrilling organ of the male is near 

 the base of the tegmen, and is longer and broader than in the Locustidse. 

 The ovipositor when exposed is long and spear-like, and apparently 

 consists of two lateral pieces, grooved internally. Each of these pieces, 

 however, is made up of two separate parts closely fitted together. A tube 

 is thus formed, down which the eggs are passed during oviposition. 



Three subfamilies of Gryllidte are represented in Ontario, the Gryl- 

 lotalpinje or mole crickets, the Gryllinae or ground crickets, and the 

 (Ecanthinae or tree crickets. These subfamilies may be separated by the 

 following table, which, with the succeeding ones, has been taken from 

 Blatchley's excellent report on the Orthoptera of Indiana (27th Ann. Rep. 

 Dep. Geol. Res. Ind., 1902), such changes having been made as were 

 necessary to adapt them to the Ontario fauna. I am also indebted to Mr. 

 Blatchley for the loan of specimens, ^and for his kind assistance to me in 

 the determination of difficult species. 



