232 FIELD-CRICKET. 



The perpendicular height of the precipice, in general, is 

 twenty-three yards ; the length of the lapse, or slip, as seen 

 from the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one ; and a 

 partial fall, concealed 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 composed 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 

 gap ing' fissures. 



LETTER LXXXVIII. 

 TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE. 

 Resonant arbusta. 



THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field, interspersed with 

 furze, close to the back of this village, 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 ; * which, though frequent 

 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 advances, they 

 stop short in the midst of their song, and retire backward 

 nimbly into their burrows, where they lurk till all suspicion of 

 danger is over. 



At first, we attempted to dig them out with a spade, but 

 without any great success ; for either we could not get to the 

 bottom of the hole, which often terminated under a great 

 stone, or else, in breaking up the ground, we inadvertently 

 squeezed the poor insect to death. Out of one so bruised, we 



* Acheta campestris, Fabricius. ED. 



