220 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



the total length of this fragment that fell was two hundred and 

 fifty-one yards. About fifty acres of land suffered from this 

 violent convulsion ; two houses were entirely destroyed ; one end 

 of a new barn was left in ruins, the walls being cracked through 

 the very stones that composed them; a hanging coppice was 

 changed to a naked rock ; and some grass grounds and an arable 

 field so broken and rifted by the chasms as to be rendered, for a 

 time, neither fit for the plough nor safe for pasturage, till con- 

 siderable labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling the 

 surface and filling in the gaping fissures. 



LETTER XLVI. To THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



Selborne. 



" resonant arb usta ' ' 



THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field interspersed with furze 

 close to the back of this village, well known by the name of the 

 Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the 

 afternoon sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus campestris, 

 or field-cricket ; which, though frequent in these parts, is by no 

 means a common insect in many other counties. 



As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the attention 

 of a naturalist, I have often gone down to examine the economy 

 of these grylli, and study their mode of life : but they are so shy 

 and cautious that it is no easy matter to get a sight of them ; 

 for, feeling a person's footsteps as he advances, they stop short 

 in the midst of their song, and retire backward nimbly into their 

 burrows, where they lurk till all suspicion of danger is over. 



At first we attempted to dig them out with a spade, but with- 

 out any great success ; for either we could not get to the bottom 

 of the hole, which often terminated under a great stone ; or else, 

 in breaking up the ground, we inadvertently squeezed the poor 

 insect to death. Out of one so bruised we took a multitude of 

 eggs, which were long and narrow, of a yellow colour, and covered 

 with a very tough skin. By this accident we learned to dis- 

 tinguish the male from the female ; the former of which is shin- 

 ing black, with a golden stripe across his shoulders ; the latter is 

 more dusky, more capacious about the abdomen, and carries a 

 long sword-shaped weapon at her tail, which probably is the 



