FIELD CRICKETS. 271 



hundred and eighty-one : and a partial fall, con- 

 cealed in the coppice, extends seventy yards 

 more ; so that the total length of this fragment 

 that fell was two hundred and fifty- one yards. 

 About fifty acres of land suffered from this violent 

 convulsion ; two houses were entirely destroyed ; 

 one end of a new barn was left in ruins, the walls 

 being cracked through the very stones that com- 

 posed them ; a hanging coppice was changed to 

 a naked rock : and some grass grounds and an 

 arable field so broken and rifted by the chasms 

 as to be rendered, for a time, neither fit for the 

 plough nor safe for pasturage, till considerable 

 labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling 

 the surface and filling in the gaping fissures. 



XLVI. 



" Resonant arbusta." 



THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field inter- 

 spersed with furze, close to the back of this vil- 

 lage, well known by the name of the Short Lithe, 

 consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the 

 afternoon sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus 

 campestris, or field cricket 1 ; which, though fre- 

 quent in these parts, is by no means a common 

 insect in many other counties. 



As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw 

 the attention of a naturalist, I have often gone 

 down to examine the economy of these grylli, and 

 study their mode of life ; but they are so shy and 

 cautious that it is no easy matter to get a sight of 

 them ; for, feeling a person's footsteps as he 



1 Acheta campestris. Fabricius. 



