348 NATURAL HISTORY 



the bottom, and quickly bring out the inhabitant ; and 

 thus the humane inquirer may gratify his curiosity 

 without injuring the object of it. It is remarkable that, 

 though these insects are furnished with long legs be- 

 hind, and brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers ; 

 yet when driven from their holes they show no activity, 

 but crawl along in a shiftless manner, so as easily to be 

 taken: and again, though provided with a curious ap- 

 paratus of wings, yet they never exert them when there 

 seems to be the greatest occasion. The males only 

 make that shrilling noise, perhaps out of rivalry and 

 emulation, as is the case with many animals which 

 exert some sprightly note during their breeding time : 

 it is raised by a brisk friction of one wing against the 

 other. They are solitary beings, living singly, male or 

 female, each as it may happen ; but there must be a 

 time when they pair, and then the wings may be useful, 

 perhaps during the hours of night. When the males 

 meet they will fight fiercely, as I found by some which 

 I put into the crevices of a dry stone wall, where I 

 should have been glad to have made them settle. For 

 though they seemed distressed by being taken out of 

 their knowledge, yet the first that got possession of the 

 chinks would seize on any that were obtruded upon 

 them with a vast row of serrated fangs. With their 

 strong jaws, toothed like the shears of a lobster's claws, 

 they perforate and round their curious regular cells, 

 having no fore claws to dig like the mole cricket. 

 When taken in hand, I could not but wonder that they 

 never offered to defend themselves, though armed with 

 such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow be- 

 fore the mouths of their burrows they eat indiscrimi- 

 nately ; and on a little platform, which they make just 

 by, they drop their dung; and never, in the daytime, 

 seem to stir more than two or three inches iroin 

 home. Sitting in the entrance of their caverns, they 

 chirp all night as well as day from the middle of 

 (he month of May to the middle of July ; and in hot 

 weather, when they are most vigorous, they make the 



