GRYLLUS. 411 



its name * from the fingular ftru6lure of Its fore legs, 

 which are exiremelj broad and flat, and terminate in fix 

 large ferrated claws, fomewhat refembling the fore teet 

 of a mole. The whole animal is of a brown, diilky co- 

 lour, very large, and a£live. It frequently takes up its 

 refidence in hot-beds, to the great dillurbance of the gar- 

 dener ; for it digs under ground, like the animal after 

 which it is called, committing dreadful havoc among the 

 tender roots of the plants that are artificially raifed there. 

 It is frequent in France^ where the gardeners know it by 

 the narne of courtilliere. 



The tettigdnia, or tribe of gradioppers. Is the next fec- 

 tion into which the grylli are divided ; and of it, the 

 gryilus viridiffimus is the mod remarkable. Its colour 

 is a pale green, the antennae fetaceous, and longer than 

 the body. The elytra are clouded, and the wings reti- 

 culated ; both extend beyond the body about one third 

 of its length. The female carries, at the extremity of 

 her abdomen, a kind of ferrated fpine, compofed of two 

 laminas, and in fiiape broad, and turned up like the blade 

 of a cutlafs. Thefe implements are employed by the fsf 

 inale in digging in the ground, or in wood, holes for the 

 reception of her ova j and this being a fun<5lion in which 

 the male has no (hare, he is unprovided with the inftru- 

 ments by which it is performed f. 



The female grafhopper poffeffes an amazing fecundity; 



(he regularly depofits from four to feven hundred eggs at 



a time %. The wonderful precautions which fhe takes 



for providing them fecurity, and food for the young as 



3 F 2 ioon 



* Gryllo-talpa, Linnaeus. 



f Barbut's Gen Infecft. page 1 15. 



\ Memoir, pour fervir a L'Hift. des InfesJl. Tonje IV. 



