350 NATURAL HISTORY 



One of these crickets, when confined in a paper cage 

 and set in the sun, and supplied with plants moistened 

 with water, will feed and thrive, and become so merry 

 and loud as to be irksome in the same room where a 

 person is sitting: if the plants are not wetted, it will 

 die. 



LETTER XLVII. 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR, SELBORNE. 



" Far from all resort of mirth 

 Save the cricket on the hearth." 



MILTON'S II Penseroso. 



WHILE many other insects must be sought after in 

 fields, and woods, and waters, the Gryllus domesticus, or 

 house cricket, resides altogether within our dwellings, 

 intruding itself upon our notice, whether we will or no. 

 This species delights in new-built houses, being, like 

 the spider, pleased with the moisture of the walls ; and 

 besides, the softness of the mortar enables them to bur- 

 row and mine between the joints of the bricks or stones, 

 and to open communications from one room to another. 

 They are particularly fond of kitchens and bakers' ovens, 

 on account of their perpetual warmth. 



JlorsKCKh-KK.l. 



Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the 

 short period of one summer, or else doze away the cold 

 uncomfortable months in profound slumbers ; but these, 

 residing as it were in a torrid zone, are always alert, 

 and merry : a good Christmas fire is to them like the 

 heats of the dog-days. Though they are frequently 



