90 LIVING CREATURES. 



with good fortune, and that to drive them away or kill 

 them will bring some misfortune on the family. 



The noise of the cricket is produced by the male. 

 He elevates his horny wing-cases, and rubs them briskly 

 together. The sound, no doubt, suggested the name, 

 for it is just like the syllables, cree-cree. It is in the 

 dusk of the evening, when friendly faces are assem- 



House and Field Crickets. 



bled around the blazing hearth, that the warmth raises 

 the cricket's cry. It is the single tale, the one chant 

 of its life ; and however loud the conversation or the 

 laugh, its shrill note is heard through all. 



This shrilling of the cricket was once so troublesome 

 to a lady as to cause her to resort to every means to 

 dislodge the insect from its roost ; but all in vain. It 

 so happened that a wedding was celebrated in her 



