ORDER VI. ORTHOPTERA.—MOLE CRICKET. 
not be much of a fortune-teller to read on it its digging habits. They make 
use of their hands, indeed, as spades, with which they hollow out subter- 
ranean galleries, and accumulate at the side of the entrance-hole the rubbish 
Their French name comes from the old French word courtille, 
It reminds one that these are the favorite haunts of 
thus drawn, 
which means garden. 
these destructive insects. 
If the Mole Crickets have spades to their front legs, their hind legs are 
very little developed, so that it would be perfectly impossible for them to 
jump, particularly as their large abdomen would hinder their so doing. The 
wings are broad, and fold back in the form of a fan ; they make little use 
of them, and it is only at nightfall that the Mole Cricket is seen to disport 
himself, describing curves of no great height in the air. It is found princi- 
pally in cultivated land, kitchen gardens, nursery gardens, wheat fields, &e., 
where it scoops out for itself an oval cavity communicating with the surface 
by a vertical hole. On this hole abut numerous horizontal galleries, more 
or less inclined, which permit the insect to gain its retreat by a great many 
roads when pursued. 
It is easy to understand that an insect which undermines land in this way 
must cause great damage to cultivation. Whether the crops serve it for 
food or not, they are not the less destroyed by its underground burrowings. 
Lands infested by the Mole Cricket are recognizable by the color of the 
vegetation, which is yellow and withered; and the rubbish which these 
miners heap up at the side of the openings leading to their galleries, resem- 
To 
destroy them, they pour water or other liquids into their nests, or else they 
bling mole-hills in miniature, betrays their presence to the farmer. 
bury, at different distances, vessels filled with water, in which they drown 
themselves. 
entrance of their burrows, and make their cry of appeal. 
From the month of April the males betake themselves to the 
Their notes are 
slow, vibrating, and monotonous, and repeated, for a long time, without 
interruption, and somewhat resembling the cry of the owl or the goat- 
sucker. 
G. Viridissima. — The Great Green Grasshopper. 
inches in length, entirely green, and without spots. 
G. Locusta. —The Locusts. The Locustide are an exceedingly numer- 
ous family, and have been arranged by naturalists in numerous genera. 
Several varieties are peculiar to this country; one of the most remarkable 
is the “ Seventeen-Year Locust,” so called from the circumstance that they 
They sometimes fill the air, like clouds, 
This insect is two 
appear once in seventeen years. 
They emerge from the ground 
They begin to 
and devour every green thing in their way. 
near the first of May, in the night, and in the pupa state. 
lay eggs about the first of June, on the twigs of trees; and as soon as the 
