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NATURAL HISTORY. 



considerable damage to vegetation by cutting through the roots of plants which come in its way, 

 but apparently not for food, as, although it will consume vegetable substances, its diet consists chiefly 

 of underground insects and worms. The Mole Cricket flies occasionally in an irregular, undulating 

 course in the evening, and its stridulation produces a dull, jarring note, which has been compared 

 to that of the Goatsucker. The eggs, to the number of 200 or 300, are deposited in a chamber of 

 considerable size, and enclosed in a sort of cocoon-like envelope ; the larvae, when first hatched, are 



white, and they are said to be 

 three years in arriving at 

 maturity. 



A considerable number of 

 species closely agreeing with the 

 preceding in structure and habits 

 are found in all parts of the 

 world, but the group also includes 

 some which depart rather widely 

 from the common Mole Cricket. 

 One very singular form, described 

 as Cylindrodes campbelli, in- 

 habits Melville Island, on the 

 north coast of Australia. It is 

 about two inches and a half 

 long, and quite cylindrical, with 

 the prothorax forming a third of 

 the total length of the body, with 

 exceedingly short legs, which can 

 be lodged in cavities of the sides 

 of the body, and with two-jointed 

 tarsi. This insect burrows into 

 the stems of plants, and causes 

 them to wither. A true Gryllo- 

 talpa (G. didactyla), inhabiting 

 South America and the West 

 MOLE CRICKET Indies, has often done much 



damage to the sugar-canes in the 



same fashion. In some curious little species forming the genera Tridactylus and Bhipipteryx there 

 are no tarsi on the hinder legs, their place being taken by two or more pointed, movable appendages. 

 One species of Tridactylus (T. variegatus) occurs in the south of Europe, and burrows in the sand 

 on the banks of rivers. The species of Bhipij)teryx are from Brazil and Guiana. 



FAMILY II.-LOCUSTID^E. 



Linnaeus referred the whole of the Saltatorial Orthoptera to his genus Gryllus, which he divided 

 into sub-genera, and gave to each of these an appropriate name. His sub-genus Locusta included the 

 species of the following family, among which the true Locusts find their place ; but, unfortunately, 

 Fabricius, when forming these groups into separate genera, thought fit to apply the name of Locusta 

 to the genus containing the species constituting the present family, and in this course he has been 

 since followed by the majority of entomologists. It is now too late, and would give rise to many 

 embarrassing questions, to revert to the more sensible nomenclature of Linnaeus, and we must continue 

 to regard the insects, to which in common parlance the name of Locusts is applied, as not belonging to 

 the family Locustidae. 



The insects so denominated by entomologists present a very considerable variety of form and 

 character, but, like the rest of the Saltatoria, they have a large head, placed vertically in front of the 

 prothorax, and a mouth furnished with powerful jaws. The ocelli are almost always wanting; 

 the antennae are very long, thin, and bristle-shaped ; the labrum is nearly circular, and the inner lobes 



