92 ACHETIDiE — CRICKETS. 



in liis account of Porainica, describes a "vegetable fly" as 

 follows : " It is of the appearance and size of a small Cock- 

 chafer, and buries itself in the p^round, where it dies ; and 

 from its body springs up a small plant, resembling a young 

 coiVce tree, only that its leaves are smaller. The plant is 

 often overlooked, from the supposition people have of its 

 being no other than a coffee plant, but on examining it 

 ]»roperlv, the difference is easily distinguished. . . . The 

 head, body, and feet of the insect appearing at the foot as 

 perfect as when alive."^ 



l)r. Colin, of Philadelphia, has mentioned, also, on the 

 authority of a missionary, a "vegetable fly," similar to the 

 last mentioned, on the Ohio River.'- 



The inhabitants of the Sechell Islands raise the Mantis 

 siccifolia, or Dry-leaf Mantis, as an object of commerce 

 and natural history. 



Achetidas — Crickets. 



In the Island of Barbados, the natives look upon the 

 creaking chirp of a species of Cricket, to which Hughes 

 has given the name of the Ash-coIo7^ed or Sickly Cricket, 

 •when heard in the house, as an omen of death to some one 

 of the family.* 



In England, also, is the Cricket's chirp sometimes looked 

 upon as prognosticating death, "When Blonzelind ex- 

 pired," Gay, in his Pastoral Dirge, says, 



And shrilling Crickets in the chimney cry'd.^ 



So also in Reed's Old Plays is the Cricket's cry ominous 

 of death : 



And the strange Cricket i' th' oven sings and hops. 



The same superstition is found in the following line from 

 the (Edipus of Dryden and Lee ; 



1 Smith's Xature and Art, x. 240. 



2 Amer. Phil. Trans., vol. iii. Introd. 



3 Cuvier, An. Kivrjd. — Ins., ii. 173. 

 * Nai. Hist, of Barbados, p. 90. 



5 -Ith rastoral, line 102. 



