1 1 96 Home Nature-Study Course. 



(6). Why does the mother cricket need such a long ovipositor? Where 

 does she put her eggs in the fall to keep them safe until spring? 



(7). Look near the elbow of the cricket's front leg for a little white 

 spot. What do you suppose this is? Ask your teacher to tell you 

 what it is? Are there any white spots like it on the other legs? 



(8). Can you find the homes of the crickets in the fields? Do the 

 black crickets chirp in the day-time or after dark? Do they chirp 

 in cold or windy weather, or only when the sun shines? 



Facts for Teachers. — The patent leather finish of the cricket's covering is of 

 great use; although he is an efficient juniper, it is after all mostly by running 

 between grass blades that the cricket escapes his enemies. If we try to catch 

 him we realize how slippery he is and how impossible it is to get a firm hold 

 upon him. 



The haunts of the cricket are usually sunny; he digs him a little cave beneath 

 a stone or clod in a field where he can have the entire benefit of all the sun- 

 shine when he issues from his doorway. The crickets cannot fly as they have no 

 wings under their wing covers as do the grasshoppers. The hind legs have a 

 strong femur and a short but strong tibia with downward slanting spines along 

 the hind edge which undoubtedly help the insect in scrambling through the grass. 



At the end of the tibia, next to the foot, is a rosette 

 of five spines, the two longer ones slanting to meet 

 the foot ; these spines give the cricket a tremendous 

 hold when making ready to spring. When walking 

 the cricket places a complete hind foot flat on the 

 ground but only uses the claw and the segment 

 next to it of the front pairs of legs. The claws 

 The front leg of the cricket en- have no pads like those of the katydid or grass- 

 larged, showing the ear at a hopper; the segment of the tarsus next the claw 



has long spines on the hind legs and shorter spines 

 on the middle and front legs, thus showing that the feet are not made for climbing 

 but for scrambling along the ground. When getting ready to jump the cricket 

 crouches so that the tibia and femur of the hind legs are shut together and 

 almost on the ground. The dynamics of the cricket's leap are well worth 

 studying. 



The cricket's features are not so easily made out because the head is so. polished 

 and black; hov/ever, the eyes are not so polished as the head, and the simple eyes 

 are present but quite difficult to make out. The antennae are longer than the body 

 and very active; there is a globular segment where they join the face. I have not 

 discovered that the crickets are so fastidious about keeping generally clean as 

 some other insects, but they are always cleaning their antennae. I have seen the 

 cricket play his wing mandolin lustily and at the same time carefully clean his 

 antennae: he polishes these by putting up a foot and bending the antenna down 

 so that his mouth can reach it near the base; he then pulls the antenna through 

 his jaws with great deliberation, nibbling it clean to the very end. The lens reveals 

 to us that the flexibility of the antennae is due to the fact that they are many 

 jointed. The palpi are easily seen, a large pair above and a smaller pair beneath 



