SALTATORIA. ACHETID^I OR CRICKETS. 149 



allied to the well-known Crickets, Grasshoppers, Locusts, &c. ; 

 all of them being adapted, by the peculiar conformation of their 

 hind-legs, to move by leaping rather than by running. Besides 

 this peculiarity, they all agree in depositing their eggs in the 

 ground: and they frequently effect this by means of a horny 

 tubular prolongation of the last segment of the body, or oviposi- 

 tor, such as we shall meet with in the order Hymenoptera. 

 There are three distinct groups in this section; namely, the 

 ACHETIDJE or Crickets; the GRYLLIDJS or Grasshoppers; and the 

 LOCUSTID^E or Locusts. In the ACHETHXE: or Crickets, forming 

 the first of these families, the antenna are long, slender, and 

 tapering, and the elytra are laid flat upon the back in repose. 

 The tarsi are composed of three joints, and the abdomen bears 

 at its extremity a pair of bristle-shaped appendages. The 

 females are usually furnished with a slender ovipositor, but this 

 is wanting in some species. The stridulation of these Insects is 

 effected by means of peculiar talc-like spots, surrounded by 

 strong veins and placed near the base of each elytron ; it is by the 

 rapid passage of these over each other that the sound is produced. 

 The Crickets are essentially inhabitants of the ground, in which 

 many of them burrow, both in the larva and perfect states ; few 

 of them have any powers of active flight. One of the most im- 

 portant species of this family is the Gryllotalpa vulgaris, or 

 Mole- Cricket (Fig. 400), which derives its name from the pecu- 

 liar similarity in its anterior extremities, and from the resem- 

 blance in its habits, to those of the Mole. It is about an inch 

 and a half long, and of a brown colour. In making its burrows, 

 it cuts through or detaches all the roots of plants which it en- 

 counters ; but it does not do this so much for the purpose of 

 feeding upon them, as to make a passage in search of insects and 

 worms. The female forms, in June and July, at the depth of 

 about six inches from the surface, a rounded cell, smooth within, 

 and resembling with its gallery a bottle with a long bent neck ; 

 in this she deposits from 200 to 400 eggs ; and the young remain 

 in society for some time after they are hatched. The larva? are 

 at first white ; but in other respects they resemble their parents, 

 except in their smaller size and their want of wings , after their 



VOL. II. M 



