30 THE DOMESTIC CRICKET. 



cording to some lasts all the year round, they become very 

 noisy at night and if at all numerous, sleep becomes an im- 

 possibility to people of a nervous constitution. Their numer- 

 ous eggs are deposited throughout the warm season, or as 

 long as the male produces music, but chiefly in spring. By 

 means of a long ovipositor the female hides the elongated 

 and yellow eggs in the earth of its home or nest, and the 

 young hatch in the course often to twelve days. The young 

 crickets resemble the adult ones, and after undergoing a 

 number of transformations, assume the winged form with- 

 out having passed through a resting pupal stage. The in- 

 sect, having been domesticated for so manj^ centuries, has 

 in course of time somewhat changed its habits, and this ac- 

 counts for the fact that we can find them in all stages at al- 

 most any time, though most of them winter as pupae and 

 adults. Wherever ntuiierous some of them leave the house 

 during summer, and exist out doors, preferring stone walls 

 and out-houses for their domiciles, but they all return to the 

 warmer houses as soon as it becomes cold. During the sum- 

 mer they are sometimes attracted to the electric light. 

 Being domesticated they eat many things that the 

 wild species of crickets, which are more or less car- 

 nivorous, -vx'ould not eat. But they have not lost their ap- 

 petite for the flesh of insects, and if a number of them are 

 confined over night in a small box but few badly crippled 

 specimens will be found in the morning; the hind legs, which 

 drop off quite readily, have nearly all been devoured, and of 

 the weaker individuals only portions of the skin remain to 

 tell the story of a cannibalistic feast. House-crickets are nov^ 

 ver\^ general feeders, and sometimes cause damage by eating 

 clothes, especially if these are wet; in fact it seems that they 

 are attracted by moisture and the general belief that if a 

 cricket has been killed its relatives will take revenge by eat- 

 ing the clothes of the murderer is based on this preference. 

 It is not verA'^ difficult to prevent the undue increase of 

 these noisy and uninvited tenants of our houses and there 

 are a number of methods by which we can succeed. They 

 are attracted to such tempting baits as carrots, which can 

 be poisoned, and which will kill them in large numbers. The 



