ORTHOPTERA. 131 



not bordered; antenna; rather short, and in general not tapering 

 at the end ; feet with only three joints ; female without a pro- 

 jecting piercer. 



1. Crickets. {AchetadcB.) 



There may sometimes be seen in moist and soft ground, 

 particularly around ponds, little ridges or hills of loose fresh 

 earth, smaller than those which are formed by moles. They 

 cover little burrows, that usually terminate beneath a stone or 

 clod of turf These burrows are made and inhabited by mole- 

 crickets, which are among the most extraordinary of the cricket 

 kind. The common mole-cricket of this country is, when fully 

 grown, about one inch and a quarter in length, of a light bay 

 or fawn color, and covered with a very short and velvet-like 

 down. The wing-covers are not half the length of the abdo- 

 men, and the wings are also short, their tips, when folded, 

 extending only about one eighth of an inch beyond the wing- 

 covers. The fore legs are admirably adapted for digging, 

 being very short, broad, and strong ; and the shanks, which 

 are excessively broad, flat, and three-sided, have the lower side 

 divided by deep notches into four finger-like projections, that 

 give to this part very much the appearance and the power of 

 the hand of a mole. From this similarity in structure, and 

 from its burrowing habits, this insect receives its scientific 

 name of Gryllotalpa, derived from Gryllus, the ancient name 

 of the cricket, and Talpa, a mole; and our common species 

 has the additional name of brevipennis* or short-winged, to 

 distinguish it from the European species, which has much 

 longer wings. Mole-crickets avoid the light of day, and are 

 active chiefly during the night. They live on the tender roots 

 of plants, and in Europe, where they infest moist gardens and 

 meadows, they often do great injury by burrowing under the 

 turf, and cutting off the roots of the grass, and by undermining 

 and destroying, in this way, sometimes whole beds of cabbages, 

 beans, and flowers. In the West Indies, extensive ravages 



* Serville. " Orthopteres," p. 308. 



