440 REPOKT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



their basal third. Inner wings either short and covered by, or ex- 

 tending considerably beyond, the tcgniina. Hind femora short and 

 rather slender. Ovipositor one-fifth longer than hind femora, pale 

 brown except the tip, which is darker. 



Measurements: Length of body, male, 16.5 mm., female, 15 mm.; 

 of pronotum, male and female, 3.5 mm.; of tegmina, male and fe- 

 male, 11 mm.; of hind femora, male and female, 10 mm.; of oviposi- 

 tor, 12 mm. Width of pronotum, 4.5 mm. 



The "house cricket," or "cricket of the hearth," is scarce in In- 

 diana. Until January 1, 1903, I had in my collection but three speci- 

 mens, two long winged males and a short winged female, taken by H. 

 Mcllroy from beneath rubbish in a gravel pit near West Terre Haute, 

 Vigo County, in October, 1894. On the date mentioned I secured a 

 dozen or more adults and nymphs in a greenhouse belonging to W. J. 

 Hasselman, situated just north of the city of Indianapolis. The pro- 

 prietor informs me that the males utter their call note throughout the 

 winter, and that the insect is seemingly most abundant at that season. 

 It is an Old World insect which has been introduced into this country, 

 and occurs sparingly in most of the States east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Seudder states that he has seen no short winged specimens 

 from the United States though they are common in Europe. The in- 

 sect is probably less abundant in Indiana than it was a half century 

 ago, when log houses and old fashioned brick and stone fireplaces were 

 most in vogue. Domesticus has also been noted in Putnam County 

 by J. S. Michaels. It is probable that in many instances the so-called 

 "house crickets" of the present country homes are field crickets, es- 

 pecially G. aibreviatus, which have striven to prolong their existence 

 by seeking shelter within the domiciles of man. 



Marlatt, loc. cit., has given the following pleasing account of the 

 habits of this house cricket: "In Europe, and in some parts of the 

 United States, no insect inhabitants of dwellings are better known 

 than these domestic or house crickets, not so much from observation 

 of the insects themselves as from familiarity with their vibrant, 

 shrilling song notes. These notes, while thoroughly inharmonious 

 in themselves, are, partly from the difficulty in locating the songster, 

 often given a superstitious significance and taken, according to the 

 mood of the listener, to be either a harbinger of good and indicative 

 of cheerfulness and plenty, or to give rise to melancholy and to be- 

 token misfortune. The former idea prevails, however, and Cowper 

 expresses the common belief that the — 



" 'Sounds inli:ii-iiioiii()iis in thomsolvos and harsh. 

 Yet heard in sfciu's where peace forever reigns, 

 And only there, please highly for their sake.* 



