NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 241 



of their cells, which they then open and bore, and shape 

 very elegantly. All that ever I have seen at that season 

 were in their pupa state, and had only the rudiments of 

 wings, lying under a skin or coat, which must be cast before 

 the insect can arrive at its perfect state ; from whence I 

 should suppose that the old ones of last year do not always 

 survive the winter. In August their holes begin to be 

 obliterated, and the insects are seen no more till spring. 



Not many summers ago I endeavoured to transplant a 

 colony to the terrace in my garden, by boring deep holes in 

 the sloping turf. The new inhabitants stayed some time, 

 and fed and sung ; but wandered away by degrees, and were 

 heard at a farther distance every morning, so that it appears 

 that on this emergency they made use of their wings in 

 attempting to return to the spot from which they were 

 taken. 



One of these crickets when confined in a paper cage and 

 set in the sun, and supplied with plants moistened with 

 water, will feed and thrive, and become so merry and loud 

 as to be irksome in the same room where a person is sitting j 

 if the plants are not wetted it will die. 



LETTER XLVII. 



1 ' Far from all resort of mirth 

 Save the cricket on the hearth." 



MILTON'S 11 Penseroso. 



SELBOBNE. 



WHILE many other insects must be sought after in fields, 

 and woods, and waters, the Gryllus domesticus, or house- 

 cricket, resides altogether within our dwellings, intruding 



307 



