ORTHOPTERA : ACHETID.E. 357 



student must consult the Synopsis of Phasmida, of Mr. 

 G. R. Gray, for fuller details and a notice of the various 

 species, distributed into many sub-genera. 



The family of the Crickets (Achetidte) comprises several 

 well-known species of insects : the common house cricket 

 (Acheta domestica], the field cricket (Acheta campestris), and 

 the mole cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris, Gryllus Gryllotalpa 

 Linn.) All these insects are eminently distinguished by the 

 chirping, creaking kind of noise which they produce, whence 

 evidently the origin of the English name. 



The cricket family is distinguished from the locust family, 

 as well as from that of the grasshoppers having long an- 

 tennae, by having the wings and wing-covers carried hori- 

 zontally when at rest, the former extending beyond the 

 latter in slender fillets, and the latter having a small circular 

 space covered with a glassy membrane in the males, which is 

 employed in producing the noise whence the insects have 

 derived their name. As the females are destitute of this, 

 they do not possess the power of chirping ; the tarsi are 

 composed of only three joints. 



The house cricket (Gryllus domesticus, Linnaeus, 4cheta do- 

 mestica, Fabricius), is too well known to need description. 



Gryllotalpa vulgaris. 



The mole cricket is a curious animal, deriving its name from the 

 similarity both of its structure and habits to the mole. The an- 



