THE MOLE CRICKET. 349 



delicate, long and pointed, are folded when the insect 

 digs its way in the earth. 



As soon as the young ones leave the eggs, they 

 begin to burrow along below the surface of the ground, 

 and when they are numerous, not only disfigure it 

 much, but are injurious to hosts of young plants. 

 These habits are not perfectly known, but it is not 

 impossible they may be of some service in return, by 

 destroying something that is as injurious as themselves. 

 It is possible that some may get their wings the first 

 year, which they do after successive scalings of the 

 skin ; but there are at least some which do not have 

 the means of flight till they come abroad upon their 

 amorous voyage in the spring, upon which occasions 

 the bats are understood to lay them under heavy con- 

 tributions. Though a singular insect, both in appear- 

 ance and in habit, the mole cricket is by no means 

 unhandsome. The shape is rounded off to both extre- 

 mities, so that it can easily make its way. The antenna 

 and palpi are remarkable for their sensibility and 

 power of being bended ; the down upon the body is 

 of extraordinary gloss and closeness, though not of 

 gaudy colour ; and with the exception of the harm 

 that it does by its burrowing, it appears to be an in- 

 offensive insect. 



All insects which are met with about a brook, are 

 not, however, of that disposition. One of the most 

 remarkable of these, both for the rapidity of its mo- 

 tions, and the havoc that it occasions, is 



