308 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



They are solitary Insects living singly in Holes by 

 themselves ; & will fight fiercely when they meet, as I 

 found by some which I put into an hole in a dry wall, 

 where I should be glad to have them encrease on account 

 of their pleasing summer sound. For tho' they had ex- 

 press'd distress by being taken out of their knowledge ; 

 yet the first that had got possession of the chink seized an 

 other with a vast pair of serrated fangs so as to make it 

 cry-out. With these strong, tooth'd Malae (like the sheers 

 of lobster's claws) they must terebrate their curious regular 

 Holes ; as they have no feet suited for digging like the 

 mole-cricket. I could but wonder, that when taken in 

 hand, they never offer'd to bite, tho' furnished with such 

 formidable weapons. They are remarkably shy, & cautious, 

 never stirring but a few inches from y e mouth of their 

 holes, & retiring backward nimbly into them, & stopping 

 short in their song by that time you come within several 

 yards of y ir caverns : from whence I conclude they may 

 be a very desirable food to some animals, perhaps several 

 kinds of birds. They cry all night as well as day during 

 part of the month of May June, & July in fine weather ; & 

 may in the still part of the night be heard to a considerable 

 distance ; abounding most in sand-banks on the sides of 

 heaths, especially in Surrey, & Sussex : but these that I 

 caught were in a steep, rocky pasture-field facing to the 

 afternoon sun. 



21. Frequent showers, & a strong wind. 



Sowed a Crop of large white-French-beans. 



22. There are about 12 brace of Succade-melons set; 

 the largest of which are about the size of a pullet's egg : & 

 two Cantaleupes, which seem to be secure. 



May 27 : 28 : 29. Vast rains, with black, cold weather 

 for many days. 



June i. Went thro' with tacking the vines for the first 

 time. 



Cold black weather still, with a northerly wind, very 

 unkind for all vegetation. 



3. Great rain. 



