ORTIIOPTERA. — ACHETIDiE. 44-3 



The males are, moreover, distinguished by having eight ventra' 

 segments in the abdomen, whilst there are only seven in the females. 



The house-cricket, Acheta domestica (^fig^ 54. 1. $ ), is too well 

 known to require description. It is an inhabitant of our houses, fre- 

 quenting the rooms level with the ground, and especially preferring 

 the parts near the fireplace and chimney, into the mortar of which 

 it burrows, even within a few inches of the fiercest fires. In the hot 

 summer weather I have often heard them upon the walls of gardens, as 

 though they found heat enough out of doors; and Mr. Gough mentions 

 the same circumstance, adding that they resume their in-door station 

 about the end of August. On discontinuing the fire during the winter 

 in their haunts, they will become dormant in the crevices of the chim- 

 ney. (Reeve's Essay on Torpidity of Animals, p. 84.) ; and from the 

 observations of De Geer, it is evident that they are unable to with- 

 stand the out-door cold of November. They may, however, be found 

 in their in-door retreats throughout the winter, in different stages of 

 growth at the same period, so that there is evidently no fixed period 

 for their development* (^^.54. 12. larva, and 54. 13. thoracic segments 

 of pupa, showing the rudimental wings and wing-covers.) They are 

 nocturnal creatures, coming out of their burrows in the twilight, at 

 which period they seek their chief nourishment, consisting, according to 

 White of Selborne, of crumbs of bread, the scumming of pots, yeast, 

 and any other household matters ; they are also very fond of moisture, 

 being often found drowned in pans of water, milk, broth, Szc. ; some- 

 times they abound to such a degree as to be a perfect nuisance, flying 

 into the candles, and dashing into people's faces, according to White. 

 I have observed them suddenly to disappear almost entirely from places 

 previously swarming with them. It is said that these insects destroy the 

 cockroach, and that, in their turn, they are attacked by the field-cricket. 

 They are easily destro3'ed by placing phials half filled with beer, orany 

 liquid, in their haunts, into which they will crowd till they are full, like- 

 wise by pills made of arsenic and flour, mixed with the root o' Daucus. 

 LinnKUS (^Lapland Tour, vol. i. p. 254.) says that grated carrots mixed 

 with arsenic, are eaten greedily by "crickets, which infallibly poisons them. 

 Superstition has been singularly and most inconsistently brought 

 into action in respect to this insect : even at the present day its chir- 



* The habits of tills domestic insect have evidently uiulergone great modifications 

 in consequence uf its connection with man. 



