148 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



on Gilbert White, the naturalist of Selborne, the chirp- 

 ing of crickets had quite an opposite effect. Speaking 

 of the field cricket, which is in most respects much 

 like its cousin of the house, he remarks, " Sounds do 

 not always give us pleasure according to their sweetness 

 and melody, nor do harsh sounds always displease. We 

 are more apt to be captivated or disgusted with the asso- 

 ciations which they promote than with the notes them- 

 selves. Thus the shrilling of the field cricket, though 

 sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some 

 hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas 

 of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous." 



If poet and naturalist do not agree here, still less are 

 they in accord in other instances ; if to the former the 

 cricket is " Little inmate, full of mirth," " Always har- 

 binger of good," one whose song is " soft and sweet " (!), 

 to the latter it is a "garrulous animal," keeping up a 

 " constant din," "a still more annoying insect than the 

 common cockroach, adding an incessant noise to its 

 ravages." And while the simple and easy-going rustic 

 life of olden times might tolerate and even enjoy this 

 incessant clatter, the state of nervous tension at which 

 so much of present-day life is lived will no doubt lead 

 most people to agree with the naturalist here, rather 

 than with the poet, and vote the cricket a household 

 nuisance. The noise upon which such different views 

 have been held is apparently a love-call, and is accord- 

 ingly produced only by the males, the female crickets 

 being, in fact, through the absence of the requisite 

 machinery for chirping, absolutely dumb. To the cause 

 of the noise we shall recur presently; meanwhile, we 

 may consider the zoological position and the structure 

 of the insect. 



As a family, the crickets enjoy a wide distribution 



