134 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



"We have another species with very short or abortive wings ; 

 it is entirely of a black color, and measures six tenths of an 

 inch in length from the head to the end of the body. It may 

 be called Acheta nigra, the black cricket. 



A third species, differing from these two in being entirely 

 destitute of wings, and in having the wing-covers proportion- 

 ally much shorter, and the last joint of the feelers (palpi) 

 almost twice the length of the preceding joint, is furthermore 

 distinguished from them by its greatly inferior size, and its 

 different coloring. It measures from three to above four tenths 

 of an inch in length, and varies in color from dusky brown to 

 rusty black, the wing-covers and hindmost thighs being always 

 somewhat lighter. In the brownish colored varieties three lon- 

 gitudinal black lines are distinctly visible on the top of the 

 head, and a black line on each side of the thorax, which is 

 continued along the sides of the wing-covers to their tips. 

 This black line on the wing-covers is never wanting, even 

 in the darkest varieties. The hindmost thighs have, on the 

 outside, three rows of short oblique black lines, presenting 

 somewhat of a twilled appearance. This is one of the social 

 species, which, associated together in great swarms, and feeding 

 in common, frequent our meadows and road sides, and, so far 

 from avoiding the light of day, seem to be quite as fond of it 

 as others are of darkness. It may be called Acheta vittata* 

 the striped cricket. 



These kinds of crickets live upon the ground, and among 

 the grass and low herbage ; but there is another kind which 

 inhabits the stems and branches of shrubs and trees, concealing 

 itself during the daytime among the leaves, or in the flowers 

 of these plants. Some Isabella grape-vines, which were trained 

 against one side of my house, were much resorted to by these 

 delicate and noisy little crickets. The males begin to be heard 

 about the middle of August, and do not leave us until after 

 the middle of September. Their shrilling is excessively loud, 

 and is produced, like that of other crickets, by the rubbing of 



* It belongs to M. Serville's new genus Nemobius. 



