294 THE INSECT WOELD. 



search of food. It is very timid, and at the least noise ceases its 

 song. If it is stationed on the side of its hole, it retreats into it 

 the moment any one approaches. 



The holes of the crickets are well known to country children, 

 who take these insects by presenting a straw to them. The 

 pugnacious cricket seizes it directly with its mandibles, and 

 lets itself be drawn out of its hole. It is this which has given 

 rise to the saying, "plus sot qu'un grillon " (a greater fool than a 

 cricket). It is very susceptible of cold, and always makes the 

 opening of its hole towards the south. It lives on herbs, perhaps 

 also on insects. 



The House Cricket is about half an inch long, of an a,shy colour, 

 and is to be met with principally in bakers' shops and country 

 kitchens, where it hides itself during the day in the crevices of the 

 walls or at the back of the fireplaces. It eats flour, and also, 

 perhaps, the little insects which live in flour. 



If crickets are put into a box together, they devour each 

 other. This does not prove conclusively that they are carnivorous, 

 for there are many species, eating nothing but vegetables, which 

 would destroy each other in a similar case. Some authors say 

 that these insects are always thirsty, for they are often to be found 

 drowned in the vessels containing any kind of liquid. Everything 

 damp is to their taste. It is for this reason that they sometimes 

 make holes in wet clothes which are hung up before the fire to 

 dry. They inhabit, by preference, houses newly built ; for the 

 mortar, being still damp, allows them to hollow out their dwelling- 

 places with greater ease. 



The habits of the House Cricket (Gryllus domesticus) , are noc- 

 turnal, like those of its congener of the fields. It is only at night 

 that it leaves its retreat to seek its food. When it is exposed 

 against its will to the light of day, it appears to be in a state of 

 torpor. This insect reminds one of the owl, among birds, not 

 only from its habit of avoiding the light, but also from its mono- 

 tonous song, which the vulgar consider, one does not know why, a 

 foreboding of ill-luck to the house in which it is heard. Formerly 

 this singular prejudice was much deeper rooted than it is at 

 present. The song of the cricket has merely the object of calling 

 the female. The Wood Cricket ( Gryllus Nem.obiii.s) sj/lvestris) is 



