ACHETID^ — CRICKETS. 97 



doe hut touch the amy^dals or almonds of the throat, witli 

 the hand wherewith he hath bruised or crushed the said 

 Criquet, it will appease the inflaraation thereof."^ Again, 

 "The Cricket digged up and applied to the plase, earth and 

 all where it lay, is very good for the ears. Nigridius," con- 

 tinues Pliny, "attrihuteth many properties to this poore 

 creature, and esteemeth it not a little : but the Magicians 

 much more by a faire deale : and why so ? Forsooth be- 

 cause it goeth, as it were, reculing backward, it pierceth 

 and boreth a hole into the ground, and never ceaseth all 

 night long to creake very shrill. 



"The manner of hunting and catching them is this, They 

 take a flie and tie it above the middest at the end of a long 

 haire of one's head, and so put the said flie into the mouth 

 of the Cricquet's hole ; but first they blow the dust away with 

 their mouth, for fear lest the flie should hide herself therein; 

 the Cricket spies the sillie flie, seaseth upon her presently and 

 claspeth her round, and so they are both drawne foorth to- 

 gether by the said haire.'" 



At the present time, children in France practice the same 

 method of capturing Crickets for amusement; substituting, 

 however, an ant fur the "sillie flie," and a long straw for 

 "the haire of one's head." Hence comes the common 

 proverb in France, il est sot comme un grillon. A ruse 

 for capturing the larva of the Cicindela, now commonly 

 practiced by entomologists, is founded on the same prin- 

 ciple. 



Pliny further says: "The Cricquets above rehearsed, 

 either reduced into a liniment, or else bound too, whole as 

 they be, cureth the accident of the lap of the eare, wounds, 

 contusions, bruises," etc.^ 



Dr. James, quoting Schroder and Dale, says : " The 

 ashes of the Cricket {Gryllus domesticus) exhibited, are 

 said to be diuretic; the expressed juice, dropped into the 

 eyes, is a remedy for weakness of the sight, and alleviates 

 disorders of the tonsils, if rubbed on them."^ 



The English name Cricket, the French Cri-cri, the 

 Dutch Krekel, and the Welsh Cricell and Cricella, are 

 evidently derived from the creak-iug sounds of these insects. 



1 Nat. Ilist., XXX. 4. Holland, p. 378. H. 



2 Tbid., xxix. 6. Holland, p. 370. K. 



3 Pliny, Nat. Hint., xxix. 6. Hull., p. 371. A. 



4 Med. Did. 



