162 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



smaller than the Field-Cricket, being about one incix 

 long, and of a yellowish color. It dwells in the cracks 

 of walls and floors, particularly in bake-houses and 

 breweries, and wherever else they can find bread and 

 meal, and moistened grain, for they are always thirsty, 

 and in houses, if they cannot get a sufficiency of wa- 

 ter elsewhere, they attack wet shoes and clothes. They 

 are provided with wings, with which they fly from 

 place to place, and from house to house ; and there 

 have been people superstitious enough to believe that 

 if a Cricket flies from another house into theirs and 

 commences its melancholly song, it is a signal of the 

 death of some member of the family. But such super- 

 stitions are not common now-a-days; on the contrar}*, 

 their presence is very generally considered an omen 

 of good, and among country-people everywhere, the 

 song of the Cricket is agreeable and highly prized. 



It is a true remark, that the deepest emotions are 

 those most noiseless. When the patriot La Fayette 

 visited this country man}^ years ago, he was received 

 with distinguished applause and parade, wherever he 

 w r ent ; the citizens of every city and village through 

 which he passed, exerted themselves to the utmost to 

 do him honor, and the country resounded with the 

 merry ringing of bells, with the trumpet of jubilee, and 

 with the booming cannonade. But the greatest com- 

 pliment paid him, and that which affected his noble 



