148 TENANT!^ OF AN OLD FARM 



and grass and cricket may be drawn out together. 

 Our American species is known as the Northern 

 mole-cricket [GrijUotalpa borealis). although, in fact, it 

 inhabits nearly the whole of the great plains, from 

 Louisiana to Massachusetts. Sometimes the bulk of 

 the soil beneath the sod and stones for a rod from 

 the water's edge will be found completely honey- 

 combed with their burrows. They seldom penetrate to 

 a depth of more than six or eight inches, rarely to a 

 foot beneath the surface. The burrows are about one- 

 third of an inch in diameter, entirely irregular in direc- 

 tion, and often tcrniiuate abruptly. Wlien the ground 

 is hard, the burrows arc brought so near the surfoce as 

 to raise long ridges of mould, which, when dr}', fre- 

 quently fall in and expose the interior." 



"Does the mole-cricket chirrup like the traditional 

 hearth cricket? " 



"It does chirrup, or rather creak, but its note is dif- 

 ferent, i-esembling the distant sound of frogs, but some- 

 what feebler. It is most frequently heard about dusk." 



"Why is the insect called a mole-cricket ?" 



"From the very fact, in part, that caused you to mis- 

 take his burrow^ for a mole's. The general shape of 

 the insect contributes to this likeness, as well as the 

 strange developnient of the fori' limbs, and the ju'culiar 

 formation of the first pair of feet, which are not unlike 

 the corresponding members of the mole. There are 

 other points of resemblance which are most extraor- 

 dinary. Like the mole, the mole-cricket passes neai'ly 

 the whole of its life underground, digging out long pas- 



