180 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Peculiar manners and habits. 



discriminately ; and never in the day-time seem 

 to stir more than two or three inches from home* 

 Sitting in the entrance of their caverns, they 

 chirp all night as well as day, from the middle 

 of the month of May to the middle of July. 



If caught by one of the hinder legs, they in- 

 stantly disengage themselves, by leaving the leg 

 behind; this does not grow again, as is the case 

 with the crab and spider species ; and the loss of 

 their leg also prevents them from flying; for 

 being unable to spring into the air, they have 

 not room for the expansion of their wings. If 

 handled roughly, they will bite very fiercely; 

 and when they fly they make a noise with their 

 wings. They generally keep in the low lands, 

 where the grass is luxuriant, and the ground rich 

 and fertile; there they deposit their eggs, parti- 

 cularly in those cracks which are formed by the 

 heat of the sun. 



One of these crickets fas we are informed by 

 the Rev. Mr. White) when confined in a paper 

 cage, set in the sun, and supplied with plants 

 moistened with water, will feed and thrive; and 

 become so merry and loud as to render it irk- 

 some to be in the same room with it, If the 

 plants are not wetted it will die, 



