ACHETID^ — CRICKETS. 97 



doe but touch the amygdals or almonds of the throat, with 

 the hand wherewith he hath bruised or crushed the said 

 Criquet, it will appease the inflaraation thereof.'" Again, 

 "The Cricket digged up and applied to the plase, earth and 

 all where it lay, is very good for the ears. Nigridius," con- 

 tinues Pliny, "attributeth many properties to this poore 

 creature, and esteeraeth it not a little : but the Magicians 

 much more by a faire deale : and why so ? Forsooth be- 

 cause it goeth, as it were, reculing backward, it pierceth 

 and boreth a hole into the ground, and never ceaseth all 

 night long to creake very shrill. 



''The manner of hunting and catching them is this. They 

 take a flie and tie it above the middest at the end of a long 

 haire of one's head, and so put the said flie into the mouth 

 [ of the Cricquet's hole ; but first they blow the dust away with 

 their mouth, for fear lest the flie should hide herself therein ; 

 the Cricket spies the sillie flie, seaseth upon her presently and 

 claspeth her round, and so they are both drawne foorth to- 

 gether by the said haire. "^ 



At the present time, children in France practice the same 

 method of capturing Crickets for amusement ; substituting, 

 however, an ant for the^" sillie flie," and a long straw for 

 "the haire of one's head." Hence comes the common 

 proverb in France, il est sot cpmme un grillon. A ruse 

 for capturing the larva of the Cicindela, now commonly 

 practiced by entomologists, is founded on the same prin- 

 ciple. 



Pliny further says: "The Cricquets above rehearsed, 

 either reduced into a liniment, or else bound too, whole as 

 they be, cureth the accident of the lap of the eare, wounds, 

 contusions, bruises," etc.^ 



Dr. James, quoting Schroder and Dale, says : " The 

 ashes of the Cricket {Gryllus domesticus) exhibited, are 

 said to be diuretic; the expressed juice, dropped into the 

 eyes, is a remedy for weakness of the sight, and alleviates 

 disorders of the tonsils, if rubbed on them."-^ 



The English name Cricket, the French Cri-cri, the 

 Dutch Krekel, and the Welsh Cricell and Gricella, are 

 evidently derived from the creak-'mg sounds of these insects. 



1 Nat. IIisL, XXX. 4. Holland, p. 378. H. 



2 Ibid., xxix. 6. Holland, p. 370. K. 



3 Pliny, Nat. Hist., xxix. G. IIolL, p. 371. A. 

 * Med. Diet. 



