Eighth Report of the State Entomologist. 179 



Gryllus luctuosus Serville. 

 The Common Black Cricket. 



Mr. Wm. B. Marshall, of the New York State Museum, at Albany, 

 reports that during a sojourn at Cape May, N. J., in the month of July 

 last, a suit of clothes belonging to a friend, which had just been 

 received from the tailor, and was hanging over the back of a chair, 

 was completely ruined in a single night by crickets that had entered 

 through open windows and eaten large holes in the garments. On 

 request, some of the crickets were secured and sent to me for identifi- 

 cation. They proved to be Gryllus luctuosus Serv. 



While we believe this is not of frequent occurrence, yet it has long 

 been known that the Gryllida^ as well as the Acridid(B are not exclu- 

 sively vegetarian in their feeding habits. Thus, Walsh has recorded of 

 Gryllus abbreviatus Serv. — a species closely allied to, and usually 

 associated with, the above, that " whenever they gained admission into 

 houses, after eating into apples and other vegetable matter that they 

 found there, often concluded their repast by gnawing holes into boots, 

 shoes, and woolen clothes."* He has also remarked : "All the crickets 

 feed indiscriminately both on animal and vegetable substances. I have 

 repeatedly noticed abbreviatus under dead putrid birds, etc."f 



Clothing long worn and charged with animal matter from the person 

 and from extraneous sources, might naturally be supposed to attract 

 crickets that have acquired the taste indicated above, Just as soiled 

 clothing has occasionally been eaten by Dermestes lardarius, the larder 

 beetle; but that new woolen clothing should be eaten in preference to 

 old, can only be accounted for upon the supposition that a special 

 attraction, in this case, was found in the animal matter belonging to 

 the wool, or employed in its dressing, and remaining in the woven 

 fabric. 



Trombidium. locustarum Riley. 

 The Locust Mite. 



Please give me the name and history of the parasite that deposits its 

 small, oval, red eggs near the base of the grasshopper's wings. — I. G. I., 

 Adena, O., September 10th, 1891. 



The " small, oval, red eggs " of which inquiry is made, is the locust 

 mite, Trombidium locustarum, Riley. It renders most excellent ser- 



* American Entomologist, 1, 1868, p. 53. 

 t Practical Entomologist, i, 1866, p. 126. 



