89 



" Shape ungainly ; teelers and testers (palpi) very long, as well as the tail-bristles. 

 The forelegs are real digging legs and at first sight seem very much like the fore-paws of 

 the mole. The thighs are broad aud flattened, the legs likewise short and flat ; bear in- 

 ward five (sic) saw teeth. The joints of the foot are small ; the foot is implanted on the 

 outer edge of the leg and can be folded backwards. The two leathery fore-wings cover 

 each other almost completely and the posterior wings only in part. The latter are mostly 

 folded in the shape of a fan and lie on the back in the shape of two little tails. The 

 Gryllotalpa is of a dark brown color." 



" This insect lives generally in swampy ground containing some sand or clay, and 

 besides in all kinds of soil rendered cohesive by much manure. Its occurrence is also local. 

 It hybernates in a torpid condition ; it leaves its retreat very early in the year. Its 

 burrows may be found as soon as March, extending at a small depth under the surface 

 of the ground. At the spot where the female intends to build her nest, the burrow slopes 

 a little downward ; the walls of the nest are hardened by pressure with the hard back, so 

 that the nest can be extracted in one mass from the ground. The diameter of the nest 

 is about 4 cm ; the entrance is narrow and somewhat crooked. The number of the eggs 

 varies usually from 200 to 250. They are not laid all at once ; after having laid a little 

 heap of eggs, the female leaves the nest and comes repeatedly back to it. The eggs are 

 about the size of a rape seed, but are egg-shaped and yellowish. All the eggs in one nest 

 are also not of a uniform size. One month after being laid they hatch ; the young are 

 at first white, but soon become brown above and dirty yellow beneath. On their emerg- 

 ence they are already of a shape similar to their mother's. The latter watches faith- 

 fully over her brood, remaining with her young until the last egg is hatched ; meanwhile 

 the nest is enlarged in size to make room for the growing insects, while at the same 

 time new food is laid bare in the roots successively uncovered." 



The young grow rapidly, and after the first moulting remain still under the care of 

 their mother ; they may then go out of the nest, but never to any great distance. They 

 can only after the second moult do without the mother's care and begin their inde- 

 pendent life. The third moult follows in October or November, they then bury them- 

 selves, still without their wings, in their winter quarters. 



The fourth moult takes place in April or May next, when the wing cases appear, and 

 after the fifth moult, in May or June, the Gryllotalpa attains its full size and has 

 become an adult winged insect. From what precedes it follows that it requires a whole 

 year for its evolution. 



The Gryllotalj*a lives in orchards, gardens, meadows, even in nurseries and woods, 

 and is everywhere equally destructive. Generally it prefers dry ground to wet ground, 

 without altogether avoiding the latter. It gnaws the roots of various plants, and not 

 a single plant can be named which it does not attack ; it does not even spare the roots 

 of fruit or forest trees, though preferring herbaceous plants to the harder roots of trees. 

 Consequently when the Gryllotalpte are very abundant they do considerable harm. 

 Witewaall, a skillful Dutch farmer, writes as follows on the subject : " In a vegetable 

 garden the damage by the Gryllotalpse was constantly very great ; the owner paid his 

 men a penny for every captured specimen. One day, after very hot weather, it rained 

 heavily, so that the garden was partly flooded. When the water had been absorbed by 

 the ground the men went on to a plot where cabbages were severely damaged by Mole 

 Crickets. The plot was dug up, and on a surface of two-fifths of an acre there were 

 obtained 1,400 full grown Mole Crickets. 



" This insect burrows close to the surface of the earth, and in so doing raises some- 

 what the surface after the same fashion as the Mole. Young plants are thus raised out 

 of the ground, and older ones also die when the Mole Crickets burrow amcngst their 

 roots. In vegetable gardens whole rows of peas in a bed are often seen to die suddenly 

 as a result of the operations of a single individual. Over the nest all plants wither. In 

 short this insect must rank as one of the most injurious, and the opinions of those authors 

 who consider Mole Crickets injurious only on account of their burrowing and not on 

 account of the injury they do by gnawing the roots appear to be quite mistaken. In 

 sucn localities as Mole Crickets occur abundantly the roots are gnawed ofi" to such an 

 extent that plants can be raised up by the leaves." 



