CRICKETS ; GRASSHOPPERS. 



145 



FIG. 367. HOUSE-CRICKET.- 



floor, sometimes even 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 ere vices 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 districts, in which it 

 forms its burrow at the side of footpaths, &c., in situations ex- 

 posed 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. 

 669. The Gryllidce, or Grasshoppers, are distinguished from 

 the preceding by the roof-like position of the wing-covers, which 

 in the crickets fold ho- 



rizontally ; but agree 

 with them in having 

 long thread-like an- 

 tennae, and a talc-like 

 spot at the base of the 

 wing-covers in the 

 males. They are dis- 

 tinguished, on the other FlG - 368. GRYLLUS VIRIDISSIMUS. 

 hand, from the Locusts with which they agree in the first of 

 these characters, by the inferior robustness of the body, and the 

 length and slenderness of the legs and antennae. The Gryllus 

 viridissimus, or Great Green Grasshopper, represented in 

 Fig. 368, is the largest British species of this Order, and one of 

 the largest of our native insects ; its length being about two 

 inches, and its breadth when the wings are expanded being three 

 inches and a half. Many species of this genus are destitute of 



