392 INSECTS. 



of a dusky brown colour, with a ferruginous cast on the under 

 parts, and is readily distinguished by the extraordinary structure of 

 its fore-legs, which are excessively strong, and furnished with very 

 broad feet, divided into several sharp, claw-shaped segments, with 

 which it is enabled to burrow under ground in the manner of a 

 mole : the lower wings, which, when expanded, are very large, 

 are, in their usual state, so complicated under the very short and 

 small upper-wings or sheaths, that their ends alone appear, reach* 

 ing, in a sharpened form, along the middle of the back ; the ab- 

 domen is terminated by a pair of sharp-pointed, lengthened, hairy 

 processes, nearly equalling the length of the antennae in front, and 

 contributing to give this animal an appearance in some degree similar 

 to that of a Blatta. 



The mole-cricket emerges from its subterraneous retreats only 

 by night, when it creeps about the surface, and occasionally em- 

 ploys its wings in flight. It prepares for its eggs an oval nest, 

 measuring about two inches in its longest diameter : this nest is 

 situated a hand's breadth below the surface of the ground: it is 

 accurately smoothed within, and is furnished with an obliquely 

 curved passage leading to the surface. The eggs are about two 

 hundred and fifty or three hundred in number, nearly round, of a 

 deep brownish yellow colour, and of the size of common shot : 

 on the approach of winter, or any great change of weather, these 

 insects are said to remove the nest, by sinking it deeper*, so as tp 

 secure it from the power of frost; and when the spring commences, 

 again raising it in proportion to the warmth of the season, till at 

 length it is brought so near the surface as to receive the full in- 

 fluence of the air and sunshine : but should unfavourable weather 

 again take place, they again sink the precious deposit, and thus 

 preserve it from danger. The eggs are usually deposited in the 

 month of June or July, and the young are hatched in August. At 

 their first exclusion they are about the size of ants, for which, on 

 a cursory view, they might be mistaken j but on a close inspection 

 are easily known by their broad feet, &c. In about the space of a 



* This is affirmed by Goedart, but is disbelieved by Reaumur and Roesel ; 

 and it appears from experiment that the nest always requires to be kept in a 

 moist situation; the eggs, if exposed to a dry air, being entirely shrivelled 

 and destroyed. 



