Although the chirping of the Cricket is familiar to most per- 

 sons, yet few comparatively are acquainted with its form. 

 During the summer the heaths resound with the singing of 

 the merry Field-Cricket ; and the incessant vibration of the 

 House-Cricket is to some persons agreeable, whilst to others it 

 is very annoying. Abundant as the former species must be, 

 I have never seen it alive ; but of the latter I once saw in a 

 bakehouse, countless multitudes in every stage of growth, 

 from those that were just emerged from the egg to the perfect 

 insects. And in a kitchen I have witnessed one running over 

 the hot embers, immediately after the fire had been raked 

 out, in so careless a manner that it was miraculous that its 

 delicate wings were not scorched ; and his habitation beneath 

 the grate must have been a very warm retreat. 



Crickets live underground, forming their burrows by means 

 of their strong jaws; the labium assumes the form of max- 

 illae, and behind it are a lip and 2 slender lobes, bearing in this 

 respect as well as in the oviduct, a considerable analogy to 

 the Tenthredinidae. 



The species found in this country are 



1. A. domestica Linn. — Do7i. 12. 409. — Panz. 88. 6 (^ 7. 



This insect lives through the year, and is very destruc- 

 tive in houses, injuring wet linen, feeding on bread, 

 &c. They may be taken like wasps by bottles filled 

 with beer. 



2. A. campestris Lijin. — Don. 12. 432. — Sotio. Biii.Mis. tab. 



65.—Pafiz. 88. 8 4^ 9. 

 Stewart says, " These insects live in holes, in dry soils, 

 making a very curious subterraneous abode, with re- 

 gular cells. They are solitary beings : sitting in 

 the entrance of their caverns ; they chirp all night as 

 well as day, from the middle of May to the middle 

 of July; the noise they make is probably to allure 

 the females, for the males alone make the chirping. 

 They begin to appear and form their holes in March, 

 and in August these holes are obliterated." I have 

 been informed that in France, children decoy these 

 insects from their burrows by inserting a fly attached 

 to the end of a horse-hair. 



3. A. sylvestris Fab. — Curtis Brit. Ent. pi. 293. Jemale. 



Mr. Dale first discovered this insect amongst dead 

 leaves in a gravel-pit, the middle of August, near 

 Lyndhurst in the New Forest; and I have found the 

 pupae on a dry bank at the same place, the begin- 

 ning of June. 



4. A. itaica? Fab. — Pa?iz. 22. 17. — pellucens? Scop. 



A single specimen was taken in Norfolk in June, and 

 is in Mr. Haworth's cabinet. 

 The plant is Sisymbritim tenuifolium (Wall Rocket). 



