112 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



statements except the one in which he wrote " there are no 

 Crickets in Shakespeare's meadows." Sir Edward is reported 

 to have said : "It was quite true there were no Crickets in his 

 (Shakespeare's) meadows, or anybody else's meadows. Shake- 

 speare put them where they should be by the fireside." 



Upon reading the paragraph referred to above, I had the 

 courage to find out Sir Edward Sullivan, and point out to him 

 in a polite way that he himself was in the wrong, if the newspaper 

 report in question accurately represented what he had stated. 

 Shakespeare may not refer to any Crickets in his meadows, and 

 may refer only to the well-known little beast which chirps by 

 the fireside, but surely there were Crickets in the meadows in 

 Shakespeare's day, as well as by the fireside, just as there are 

 Crickets in the meadows, and by the fireside, now. The fact is, 

 there are several species of British Crickets, but among them 

 there is only one which is an indoor resident ! The outdoor 

 Crickets on the British list are for the most part of rare occur- 

 rence, but there is one species a black fellow which is very 

 common in our Hertfordshire grass fields and hedges, and will 

 surely be known (at any rate, by sound) to many country 

 dwellers. 



Sir Edward was, as one might expect, as courteous in his reply 

 as I was in pointing out the discrepancy which had apparently 

 arisen, but for the life of me I cannot tell even now where we 

 are over this critical (I had almost been tempted to write cricketal) 

 question. This is what the genial Irishman says in his letter of 

 reply : " I am aware that there are such varieties of the Cricket 

 as you mention, but I dealt only with the animal as known in 

 Shakespeare's time. It was then a dweller by the fireside. The 

 meadow variety was then known by another name. The state- 

 ment of the Quarterly reviewer would have been quite as effective, 

 as bearing on the subject, had he said ' There are no aeroplanes 

 over his meadows.' ' 



Now to tell the candid truth, I don't exactly know where we 

 are ! Sir Edward writes of varieties, when, of course, it should 

 be species, but that, perhaps, is a license which is often allowed. 

 A species of Cricket undoubtedly dwelt by the fireside in Shake- 

 speare's day, but it seems equally certain that other species dwelt 

 in the meadows, though probably, as Sir Edward says, " the 

 meadow variety was then known by another name." That, 

 however, does not affect the matter so far as I can. see, and there, 

 for the present, I propose leaving the conundrum which I set out 



