House Cbicket.- 



-mSECTS. - 



-GrTLLIDjE. 



•243 



to tk-ath. 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 ekin. Where violent 

 methods will not avail, more gentle means will often 

 Buccecd, 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 qnickly 

 bring out the inhabitant ; and thus the humane inquirer 

 may gratify his curiosity without injuring the object 

 of it. It is remarkable that, though these insects are 

 furnished with long legs behind, and brawny thighs for 

 leaping, like grasshoppers, yet when driven from their 

 boles they show no activity, but crawl along in a shift- 

 less manner, so as easily to be taken ; and again, 

 though provided with a curious apparatus of wings, 

 yet they never exert them when there seems to be the 

 greatest occasion. The males only make that shrilling 

 noise, perhaps out of rivalry and emulation, as 

 case with many animals which exert some spr 

 note during their breeding time ; it is raised by 

 friction of one wing against the other. They are 

 tary beings, living singly, male or female, eacli as 

 happen ; but there must be a time when the sexes 

 some intercourse, and then the wings may be 

 perhaps during the hours of night. When 

 the males meet they will tight fiercely, as I 

 found b}' some which I put into the crevices 

 of a dry stone wall, where I should have 

 been glad to have made them settle ; for 

 though they seemed distressed by being taken 

 out of their knowledge, yet tlie tirst that got 

 possession of the chinks would seize on any 

 that were obtruded upon them, with a vast 

 row of serrated fangs. With their strong 

 jaws, toothed like the shears of a lobster's 

 claws, they perforate and round their curious 

 regular cells, haWng no fore claws to dif 

 Mole-cricket." 



They never offer to defend themselves when taken 

 up in the hand, although they have such formidable 

 jaws. They eat indiscriminately of such plants as 

 grow near their holes, and White observed that they 

 dropped their dung on a little platform close at hand. 

 In the day-time they seem to keep close to their homes, 

 never stirring more than two or three inches from them. 

 They chirp all night and day at the entrance of these 

 burrows from the middle of May to the middle of July, 

 and are particularly vigorous in hot weather, making 

 the hills echo with their noise. 



THE HOUSE CRICKET (Acheta domestica). Many 

 who are not troubled with this insect, fancy that it is 

 lucky to have them in a house ; and where there are 

 only two or three, there is certaiidy something cheer- 

 ful in the sound of "the cricket on the hearth." They 

 are of a pale colour, and are particularly fond of 

 warmth, preferring kitchens and bakers' ovens. As 

 would be infeiTed, they are a thirsty race, like the black 

 beetles ; and where they abound, many may be taken 

 by leaving on the floor shallow pans of water, or other 

 fluid. At times they increase to such a degree as to 

 become a perfect nuisance ; flying to the lights, and 

 dashing into people's faces. 



Acheta Smealhmanni. Mr. Smeathman, who made 

 large collections of insects, and observations on their 

 habits, when he resided at Sierra Leone shortly after 

 its formation as a British colony, informed Drury, his 

 correspondent in London, that a species of Acheta 

 was used as food. The children there in his time 

 were engaged at the proper season in digging the 

 females of this Achela out of the ground when they 

 were full of eggs. On these they make an agreeable 

 repast. They roast the whole insect, but only eat the 

 eggs, which they deem to be very delicate food. 



FAMit.Y-GRYLLID^. 



The insects of this tamfly have very long antennae, 

 and in the female the ovipositor is very long. Fig. 



Fig. 1*3. 



<*l>;S#^«P!fe^ 



like the 



DecticuB verruciTorus. 



148 represents the female of the Decticus ven-nci- 

 vorus depositing her eggs in a hole in the ground. 

 This insect is met with in the south of England, and 

 was so called by the great Swedish naturalist, from a 

 habit of his countrymen in employing it to bite at the 

 warts on their hands. These peasants suppose, and 

 very likely they are right, that the fluid ejected by the 

 Decticus corrodes the warts. I have seen very com- 

 monly in the Isle of Wight, and in the borders of 

 Berks and Oxfordshire, the fine large Phasgonura 

 viridissima, a big insect, whose bite assuredly is not 

 to be despised. 



I have described a very large New Zealand Tree 

 cricket, the Deinacrida heteracantha. It is a large, 

 strong-jawed, strong spiny-legged creature, whose bite 

 is much dreaded by the Maouries. 



There are ten British species, arran^'ed in the genera 

 Odontura, Meconema, Xiphiditun, Phasgonura, Thora- 

 ixotrizon, Plalycleis, and Decticus. It is, however, in 

 the warmer countries of the world, tliat these creatures 

 abound. Some of them are very gigantic, especially 

 some from New Guinea and the adjoiidug islands. 



The Anoslostoma, a genus established by Mr. G. 

 R. Gray, is a most formidable-looking insect. Its 



