220 



Marvels of Insect Life* 



Photo by] [H. Bastin. 



Fore-leg of Mole-Cricket. 



A wonderful implement constructed upon the 

 tvvo-tools-in-one principle. The shank ends in 

 four powerful teeth-Uke points, which make an 

 efficient digging instrument. Across these teeth 

 the foot works as a cutting blade, which quickly 

 severs roots lying in the way of burrow 

 eN tensions. 



until they cast their first skin, wlien they are able to 

 look after themselves, and each starts burrowing for 

 itself. It is calculated that their development from 

 the eg'^ to sexual maturity is spread over four years. 

 The mother is said to have to keep them away from 

 the male, who otherwise w^ould eat them. 



This cannibalistic tendency is not confined to the 

 male and its offspring, as the following incident will 

 show. Quite recently a friend brought us some 

 mole-crickets from Sicily, where they are so plentiful 

 as to be a great nuisance in the gardens. Three of 

 them w^ere imprisoned in a tin full of earth, in which 

 w^e were told was also included a large millipede and 

 several terrestrial Insects other than the mole-crickets. 

 A small potato was added by way of refreshment 

 en route. The tin was carefull}' opened, but only 

 two mole-crickets were found, and these showed 

 signs of encounters in the shortening of antennae and 

 "tails." The mould was sifted, but neither miUipede 

 nor Insects were there. The potato was untouched, 

 but one mole-cricket had been eaten. Two days 

 later the smaller of the two survivors had likewise disappeared entirely, 

 but the potato still had its skin and tender shoots intact. If the mole- 

 cricket were a vegetarian it surely would have taken a little potato with its 

 animal food. 



Tike the true cricket, the mole-cricket is musical after a fashion, but its notes 

 are not shrill and piercing. Its call is a dull sound, that suggests in a small way the 

 churring of the goat-sucker among birds. And being musical, it is provided 

 with ears in the front legs. The openings to these may be plainly seen in 

 the form of a slit in a slight fold near the upper edge of the shank, just 

 below the knee. 



The mole-cricket is much more plentiful in Central and Southern Europe than 

 with us, and its range extends through Egypt and Western Asia to the Himalaya. 

 A similar but smaller species ^ is found in the Mediterranean region and the warmer 

 parts of Asia to the low hills and plains of India, w'here it is some\\'hat of a nuisance 

 in the tea-gardens. It is there known as the mouse-Insect, owing apparently to its 

 colour and the rapidity of its movements. It is probable that the principal harm it 

 does there is the disturbance of the newly planted young tea-shrubs, but it has the 

 reputation of destroying by eating them. Another one that is found in the West 

 Indies has the similar bad character of being destructive to the sugar-canes. \Miether 

 this accusation is well founded is a matter that appears to stand in need of further 

 investigation. It is so easy to conclude, upon seeing certain Insects in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of damaged plants, that the Insects are the authors of the mischief ; 

 but it is quite possible that the mole-crickets may be present in tlu^ capacity of police 

 looking for the real culprits. 



^ Gryllotalpa africana. 



