150 



CRICKETS ; GRASSHOPPERS. 



FIG. 468. HOUSE-CRICKET. 



first moulting, they disperse, and soon gain their darker colours ; 

 and they are about three years before they arrive at the perfect 

 state. Their wings are so little developed, that the possibility 

 of the flight of the insects has been denied. It is remarkable 

 that the various species of this singular genus should be spread 

 over the whole globe. The House- Cricket (Fig. 468) is too well 

 known to require particular description ; it takes up its abode 

 in the neighbourhood of the fire-places of rooms on the ground- 

 floor, sometimes burrowing into the mortar, even within a 

 few inches of the fiercest fires ; and here it remains during the 



winter months, be- 

 coming torpid in 

 its haunts, if the 

 fire be discontinued. 

 In the summer, 

 however, it fre- 

 quently goes forth 

 to the gardens, and 

 seeks a habitation 

 in the crevices of garden-walls, &c., as if it then found heat 

 enough out of doors. The Field- Cricket is much larger, and 

 also rarer, than the preceding ; it frequents hot sandy dis- 

 tricts, in which it forms its burrow at the side of footpaths, &c., 

 in situations exposed to the sun, to the depth of from six to 

 twelve inches ; and sits at its mouth watching for its prey, which 

 is said to consist of 



other insects. This is 

 one of the most noisy 

 of all the Crickets. 



731. TheGryllida, 

 or Grasshoppers, are ^ 



distinguished from the fe^c: ~ * --v*/^ 1 r >. * 



preceding by the roof- "^^^^a?^ ~? -C^Ls-'--'- 

 like position of the 



wing-covers, which in the Crickets fold horizontally ; but agi 

 with them in having long thread-like antennas, and a talc-like 

 spot at the base of the wing-covers in the males. They are dis- 



