226 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



which it has formed for itself, a-nd which is very sim- 

 ilar to the pit made in loose sand by the larva of the 

 ant lion, Myrmeleon obsoletus Say. 



The most common of the five species occurring with 

 us is the short-winged field cricket, Gryllus abbrevia- 

 tes Serv., which is nocturnal, omnivorous, and a can- 

 nibal. Avoiding the light of day he ventures forth, as 



soon as darkness has 

 fallen, in search of food, 

 and all appears to be fish 

 which comes to his net, 

 Of fruit, vegetables, grass 



rig. 55 Field Cricket. " and carrion he seems 

 equally fond, and does not 



hesitate to prey upon a weaker brother when oppor- 

 tunity offers. I have often surprised them feasting 

 upon the bodies of their companions, and of about 

 forty imprisoned together in a box, at the end of a 

 week but six were living. The heads, wings and 

 legs of their dead companions were all that remained 

 to show that the weaker had succumbed to the 

 stronger ; that the fittest, and in this case the fattest, 

 had survived in the deadly struggle for existence. 



Of all the Gryllidce which occur in the Northern 

 States, the little brown "ground crickets" are the most 

 numerous and the most social. Unlike their larger 

 cousins, the field crickets, they do not 

 Crickets ' wa ^ ^ or darkness before seeking their 

 food ; but wherever the grass has been 

 cropped short, whether on shaded hillside or in the 

 full glare of the noonday sun along the beaten road- 

 way, mature specimens may be seen by hundreds 



