THE CRICKETS 



(Family GryllidcB.) 



Fig. 228. — Gryllus assimilis. 

 ( Redrawn from Alarlatt.) 



These insects, commonly known as crickets, have long 

 antennae, longer than the body, as in the Locustidse, but the tarsi 

 are three-jointed and the ovipositor, when exserted, is spear- 

 shaped. The hind legs are long, and the femora are swollen. 

 Many species are wingless, but with those which have wings the 

 tegmina, or upper wings, are de- 

 flexed on the outer edge so that 

 they fit closely to the sides of the 

 body. In the male sex the upper 

 wings are frequently curiously mod- 

 ified so as to permit an even more 

 elaborate musical apparatus than is 

 the case with the Locustidse. The 

 insects of this family are not 

 numerous from the point of num- 

 ber of species, and but three distinct types are found in the group. 

 These are the true crickets, typified by the common field cricket; 



the mole crickets, forms with very 

 short wings, which are sometimes 

 entirely absent, and with modified 

 front legs, which superficially re- 

 semble those of a mole, and which 

 live during their entire lives under- 

 ground; and third, the so-called 

 tree crickets, pale-colored nocturnal 

 forms which lay their eggs in the 

 twigs of different plants, and which 

 sometimes are so abundant that by 

 their egg-laying alone they do con- 

 siderable damage to vineyards and 

 to raspberry and blackberry planta- 

 341 



Fig. 229. — Gryllus doniesticus. 

 (After Marlatt.) 



