2i8 The Natural History 



6th of that month, by the side of a canal, his scythe struck 

 too deep, pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to 

 view a curious scene of domestic oeconomy : 



. . . "ingentem lato dedit ore fenestiam ; 

 Apparet donius intus, et atria longa patescunt : 

 Apparent . . . penetralia." 



There were many caverns and winding passages leading 

 to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, and 

 about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within this 

 secret nursery were deposited near an hundred eggs of a 

 dirty yellow colour, and enveloped in a tough skin, but 

 too lately excluded to contain any rudiments of young, 

 being full of a viscous substance. The eggs lay but 

 shallow, and within the influence of the sun, just under a 

 little heap of fresh-moved mould, like that which is raised 

 by ants. 



When mole-crickets fly they move " cursu tmdoso^" rising 

 and falling in curves, like the other species mentioned 

 before. In different parts of this kingdom people call 

 them fen-crickets, churr-worms, and eve-churrs, all very 

 apposite names. 



Anatomists, who have examined the intestines of these 

 insects, astonish me with their accounts ; for they say 

 that, from the structure, position, and number of their 

 stomachs, or maws, there seems to be good reason to 

 suppose that this and the two former species ruminate or 

 chew the cud like many quadrupeds ! 



LETTER XLIX 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON 



Selborne, May 7, 1779. 



It is now more than forty years that I have paid some 

 attention to the ornithology of this district, without being 

 able to exhaust the subject : new occurrences still arise as 

 long as any inquiries are kept alive. 



