-54 



THE OPEN COUNTRY 



before changing into pupse. On emerging from the pupa-stage, the females remain 

 in the pupa - case, where they are fertilised by the males, which can fly but 

 live only for a few hours. Here are produced living larvae, which crawl out of 

 the cases by means of their legs and tail-bristles, and settle on wasps or bees by 

 which they are carried to their nests. In the nest they make their way into the 

 young larva? of their hosts, and change into footless grubs. 



Crickets. 



The fleld-cricket (Gryllus campestris), which is more heard than 

 seen, is one of the noisiest of the Orthoptera : its monotonous chirp is 

 produced by the friction of the bases of the elytra, when rubbed one over the other. 

 It lives in dry fields in holes of its own making, before which, except in pairing-time, 



< 



THE MOLE-CRICKET. 



it sits alone. With head thrust well forward and apparently motionless, it chirps 

 incessantly, as if deaf to everything else; but at the slightest unusual sound the 

 chirp ceases, the cricket momentarily hesitates, and the next instant disappears into 

 the ground. In colour it is blackish with the wings greyish at their bases, and the 

 hind-legs red above. In length about three-quarters of an inch, it feeds on roots and 

 seeds, and does much damage to plants. Its development takes a whole year : the 

 inseci being full-grown in May or June. Far more remarkable is the mole-cricket 

 (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), which is brown above and brownish yellow below, with 

 black-veined wings : its length ranging from an inch to 1 J inches. This insect, which 

 is silent, and without an ovipositor, inhabits the greater part of Europe and western 

 Asia, and dwells in holes in any kind of soil, feeding on roots and snails and 

 worms. Occasionally it is found in forests, and then generally on young oaks and 



