CLASS I. INSECTA: ORDER 8. ORTHOPTERA. 



591 



THE MOLE-CRICKET. 



man, -when they establish themselves in the neighborhood of the fire-place, in some room on the 

 ground floor, generally preferring the kitchen, where their monotonous chirping may generally be 

 heard in the winter evenings. In summer, however, they remove their quarters to the open air, 

 taking up their abode apparently in the crevices of garden walls and similar situations. In fine 

 summer evenings they sing most pertinaciously in the open air. Their food, when in the house, 

 consists of crumbs of bread and simihir household refuse, which are generally to be found in 

 abundance on the kitchen hearth. They come into the houses about the end of August, prob- 

 ably to breed, as minute larvte, not more than a line in length, may often be seen later in the 

 autumn swarming about hearths inhabited by these insects. 



Another species is the Field-Ckicket, A. campestris, a timid animal which avoids the society 



of man, living all the year 

 round in the burrows which 

 it forms in sandy banks among 

 stones. This is much laro-er 

 and louder in its song than the 

 domestic species, but it is by 

 no means so common, frequent- 

 ing only hot sandy districts. 



A still more remarkable in- 

 sect belonging to this tribe, 

 is the Mole-Cricket, Gryllo- 

 talpa vulgaris, which, both in 

 its structure and habits, pre- 

 sents no inconsiderable resem- 

 blance to the mole. Like that 

 animal it is constantly engaged 

 in burrowing in the earth ; and to enable it to do this with facility its anterior limbs are converted 

 into a pair of flat, fossorial organs, which are turned outward in exactly the same manner as the 

 hand of the mole. In its passage through the earth it does great injury to the roots of plants, 

 but it is said to live quite as much upon animal as vegetable food. 



THE GEYLLINA. 



This tribe includes the Grasshoj}p>ers, of which there are many sj^ecies in most countries. The 



Carolina Grasshopper, Gryl- 

 lus Carolina, is a large species 

 with brown wings, common in 

 our grassy fields in August, 

 September, and October; they 

 rise when approached and fly 

 for the distance of a few feet, 

 when they alight. There are 

 many other species, many of 

 which are only able to leap, 

 without the power of flight. 

 The Gryllus dux of South 

 America has wings of an ex- 

 panse of twelve inches, beauti- 

 fully illuminated with red and 

 blue colors, with black spots. 

 The Katydid, Flatyphi/lhim 

 concavum, is one of the most 

 noted of our grasshoppers, on 

 account of its fiimiliar song in the early autumn evenings, consisting of a continued cry of Katy- 



THE CAROLINA GRASSHOPPER. 



