Mole- Cricket. 



265 



THE MOLE-CRICKET. 



The insect, called, from its similarity of habits to the 

 mole, the mole-cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris, LA.TR.), is but too 

 well known in gardens, corn-fields, and the moist banks of 

 rivers and ponds, in some parts of England, such as Wilt- 

 shire and Hampshire, though it is comparatively rare or 

 unknown in others. It burrows in the ground, and fdrms 

 extensive galleries similar to those of the mole, though 



The Mole-Cricket, with a separate outline of one of its hands. 



smaller ; and these may always be recognized by a slightly 

 elevated ridge of mould : for the insect does not throw up 

 the earth in hillocks like the mole, but gradually, as it digs 

 along, in the manner of the field-mouse. In this way it 

 commits great ravages, in hotbeds and in gardens, upon peas, 

 young cabbages, and other vegetables, the roots of which it 

 is said to devour. It is not improbable, we think, that, like 

 its congener, the house-cricket, it may also prey upon under- 

 ground insects, and undermine the plants to get at them, as 

 the mole has been proved to do. Mr Gould, indeed, fed a 

 mole-cricket for several months upon ants. 



The structure of the mole-cricket's arms and hands (if we 



