NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 245 



on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the 6th of that 

 month, by the side of a canal, his scythe struck too deep, 

 pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to view a 

 curious scene of domestic economy : — 



■Inf^entem lato declit ore fenestram ; 



Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt : 

 Apparent penetralia. " 



There were many caverns and winding passages leading 

 to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, and 

 about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within this secret 

 nursery were deposited near a hundred eggs of a dirty 

 yellow colour, and enveloped in a tough skin, but too lately 

 excluded to contain any rudiments of young, being full of a 

 viscous substance. The eggs lay but shallow, and within 

 the influence of the sun, just under a little heap of fresh- 

 mowed mould, like that which is raised by ants. 



When mole-crickets fly they move " cursu undosoj" rising 

 and falling in curves, like the other species mentioned 

 before. In different parts of this kingdom people call them 

 fen-crickets, churr-worms, and eve-churrs, all very apposite 

 names. 



Anatomists, who have examined the intestines of these 

 insects, astonish me with their accounts ; for they say that, 

 from the structure, position, and number of their stomachs, 

 or maws, there seems to be good reason to suppose that this 

 and the two former species ruminate or chew the cud like 

 many quadrupeds ! 



