BAUMGARTNER: OBSERVATIONS ON THE GRYLLID^. 317 



But if held or pinched or pricked or chemically irritated on 

 any side of the posterior part of the abdomen, or on the hind 

 legs, there is always ejected from the anus a bluish-white 

 liquid with some excrement. The discharge is directed as 

 nearly as possible to the point of attack, be it above, below, 

 behind, or on either side of the abdomen. It is driven with 

 considerable force, enough in some instances to carry it across 

 an aquarium eight inches in diameter. After several ejections 

 there is less excrement in the liquid, which becomes almost 

 colorless, losing its milkiness. 



The ejected mass has a very fetid odor and is very sticky, 

 so sticky that a half-grown nymph can readily be suspended 

 by lightly touching a needle to some of the secretion and then 

 to its abdomen. An adult female, in spite of her strong legs, 

 was held for nearly a minute as a result of touching her be- 

 smeared body against the side of the jar. 



In some breeding experiments reported elsewhere I was able 

 to study the effect of this ejection and the conditions under 

 which it is made. There was no discharge when the male was 

 carefully introduced into the jar with the female, but on one 

 occasion it happened that the male became excited and rushed 

 upon the female in his attempt to get away. He received a 

 discharge upon his head and into his face. He stood for a long 

 time trying to clean this off. He apparently could remove but 

 little of it, and died on the second day thereafter. At another 

 time a female received a lesser discharge from a male. She, 

 too, spent hours trying to scrape off the sticky stuff, but failed, 

 and died on the third day. The other pair lived for many weeks 

 longer. Perfectly calm individuals, when put into a jar in 

 which there had been a discharge a day or so before, became 

 very much agitated and tried hard to escape from the en- 

 closure. This behavior suggests that when these insects get 

 this odor it warns them that an enemy has been or is near, and 

 they try to escape. I repeated this test several times with the 

 same result. I introduced some affected sand into a jar con- 

 taining a calm individual. He became agitated. In every in- 

 stance the crickets became excited when they perceived the 

 odor. 



The fetidity of the liquid must repel very ardent pursuers, 

 and the stickiness must retard them should they become en- 

 tangled in a discharge. It is, no doubt, for the purpose of 

 so entangling the enemy that the cricket directs its discharge 

 toward the point of attack. 



