122 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



cricket these make a part of the wing-covers, the horizontal and 

 overlapping portion of which, near the thorax, is convex, and 

 marked with large, strong, and irregularly curved veins. When 

 the cricket shrills (we cannot say sings, for he has no vocal or- 

 gans), he raises the wing-covers a little, and shuffles them together 

 lengthwise, so that the projecting veins of one are made to grate 

 against those of the other. The English name cricket, and the 

 French cri-cri, are evidently derived from the creaking sounds of 

 these insects. Mr. White, of Selborne, says that " the shrilling 

 of the field-cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously 

 delights some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer 

 ideas of every thing that is rural, verdurous, and joyous " ; sen- 

 timents in which few persons, if any, in America will participate ; 

 for with us the creaking of crickets does not begin till summer is 

 gone, and the continued and monotonous sounds, which they keep 

 up during the whole night, so long as autumn lasts, are both weari- 

 some and sad. Where crickets abound, they do great injury to 

 vegetation, eating the most tender parts of plants, and even de- 

 vouring fruits and roots, whenever they can get them. Melons, 

 squashes, and even potatoes are often eaten by them, and the quan- 

 tity of grass that they destroy must be great, from the immense 

 numbers of these insects which are sometimes seen in our meadows 

 and fields. They may be poisoned in the same way as mole- 

 crickets. Crickets are not entirely confined to a vegetable diet ; 

 they devour other insects whenever they meet with and can over- 

 power them. They deposit their eggs, which are numerous, in 

 the ground, making holes for their reception with their long, spear- 

 pointed piercers. The eggs are laid in the autumn, and do not 

 appear to be hatched till the ensuing summer. The old insects, 

 for the most part, die on the approach of cold weather ; but a few 

 survive the winter, by sheltering themselves under stones, or in 

 holes secure from the access of water. 



The scientific name of the genus that includes the cricket is 

 Acheta, and our common species is the Jlcheta abbrcviata, so 

 named from the shortness of its wings, which do not extend 

 beyond the wing-covers. It is about three quarters of an inch in 

 length, of a black color, with a brownish tinge at the base of the 

 wing-covers, and a pale line on each side above the deflexed bor- 



