OETHOPTERA. 295 



much smaller than the above, and is met with in great numbers 

 in the woods, where its leaps sometimes produce the noise of drops 

 of rain. 



The female crickets have a long auger, with which they deposit 

 their eggs, of which each one lays, towards the middle of the 

 summer, about three hundred, in the cracks and crevices of the soil. 

 The larvae pass the winter in that state, and do not become pupae 

 and perfect insects till the following summer. 



Mouffet relates that, in certain regions of Africa, the crickets are 

 objects of commerce. They are brought up in little cages, as we 

 do Canary birds, and sold to the inhabitants, who like to hear 

 their amorous chant. This song lulls them to sleep. It is said 

 that certain peoples eat these insects. In France they are sought 



Fig. 305. Mole Cricket (Gryllo-talpa vulgaris). 



after as baits for fishing, and are used also in menageries for 

 feeding small reptiles. Next to Gryllus come the genera 

 ^Ecanthus, insects of the south of Europe, which live on plants, 

 and which one often sees fluttering about flowers ; Sphteria, which 

 live in ant-hills ; Platydactylus ; and, lastly, the Mole Cricket 

 (Gryllo-talpa), whose habits deserve attention for awhile. 



