THE FIELD CKICKET. 



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planks or behind the skirting-boards, where these insects love to con- 

 ceal themselves. Along one of the edges of the capsule there is a slit 

 which corresponds with the opening of the puff, and which is strength- 

 ened, like that part of the pastry, by a thickened margin. The edges 

 of the slit are toothed, and it is said that each tooth corresponds with 

 an egg. When the young are hatched, they pour out a fluid which has 

 the effect of dissolving the cement which holds the edges together ; the 



The Earwig, Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), and Field Cricket 



{Gryllus campeMris). 



newly-hatched Cockroaches push themselves through the aperture, which 

 opens like a valve and closes again after their exit, so that the empty 

 capsule appears to be perfectly entire. 



A good example of the Cricket is found in the Field Cricket, a 

 noisy creature inhabiting the sides of hedges and old walls, and making 

 country lanes vocal with its curious cry, if such a word can be applied 

 to a sound produced by friction. The Field Cricket lives in burrows 

 made at the foot of hedges or walls, and sits at their mouth to sing. It 

 is, however, a very timid creature, and on hearing, or perchance feeling, 

 an approaching footstep, it immediately retreats to the deepest recesses 

 of the burrow, where it waits until it imagines the danger to have 

 gone by. 



