NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 1/1 



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 or safe for pasturage, till considerable 

 labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface and 

 filling in the gaping fissures. 



LETTEB XLYI. 



TO THE SAME. 



resonant arbusta 



THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field and interspersed with furze 

 close to the back of this village, well known by the name of 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 took a multitude of eggs, which were long and 

 narrow, of a yellow colour, and covered with a very tough skin. By 

 this accident we learned to distinguish the male from the female ; the 

 former of which is shining black, with a golden stripe across his 

 shoulders ; the latter is more dusky, more capacious about the abdomen, 

 and carries a long sword-shaped weapon at her tail, which probably is 

 the instrument with which she deposits her eggs in crannies and safe 

 receptacles. 



Where violent methods will not avail, more gentle means will often 

 succeed, and so it proved in the present case ; for, though a spade be 

 too boisterous and rough an implement, a pliant stalk of grass, gently 

 insinuated into the caverns, will probe their windings to the bottom, 

 and quickly bring out the inhabitant ; and thus the humane inquirer 



