LOCUbF. 141 



fcrs greatly from the rest. It is of an uncouth, 

 and even formidable aspect, measuring more 

 than two inches in length; and is of a broad and 

 slightly flattened shape, of a dusky brown colour, 

 with a ferruginous cast on the under parts, and is 

 readily distinguished by the extraordinary struc- 

 ture of its fore-legs, which are excessively strong, 

 and furnished with very broad feet divided into 

 several sharp, claw-shaped segments, with which it 

 is enabled to burrow under ground in the manner 

 of a Mole: the lower wings, which, when ex- 

 panded, are very large, are, in their usual state, 

 so complicated under the very short and small 

 upper-wings or sheaths, that their ends alone ap- 

 pear, reaching, in a sharpened form, along the 

 middle of the back; the abdomen is terminated 

 by a pair of sharp-pointed, lengthened, hairv pro* 

 cesses, nearly equalling the length of the antennae 

 in front, and contributing to give this animal an 

 appearance in some degree similar to that of a 

 filatta. 



The Mole-Cricket emerges from its subterrane- 

 ous retreats only by night, when it creeps about 

 the surface, and occasionally employs its wings in 

 flight. It prepares for its eggs an oval nest, mea- 

 suring about two inches in its longest diameter: 

 this nest is situated a hand's breadth below the 

 surface of the ground: it is accurately smoothed 

 within, and is furnished with an obliquely curved 

 passage leading to the surface. The eggs are 

 about two hundred and fifty or three hundred in 

 number, nearly round, of a deep brownish vellow 



