390 THE MIGRATORY LOCUST. 
Like those of the mole, the fore-limbs of the Mole Cricket are of enormous comparative 
size, and turned outwards at just the same angle from the body. All the legs are strong, but 
the middle and hinder pair appear quite weak and insignificant when compared with the 
gigantic developments of the front pair. This insect is rather local, but is found in many 
parts of Europe, where it is known by sundry popular titles, Croaker being the name most 
in vogue. 
The wings of the Mole Cricket are large and handsome ; and when folded, their hardened 
outer edges project along the back like two curved spines. Some persons have thought that 
this insect is the cause of the well-known phenomenon called the Will of the Wisp, or Jack 
o’ Lantern, because in a locality where one of these deceptive lights was fluttering after its 
uncertain wont, a Mole Cricket was captured on the wing. 
The food of the Mole Cricket is chiefly of a vegetable nature; but the insect will eat 
animal food when offered, having been known to feed upon raw beef with great zest. Like 
the field cricket, it is very combative, and when it has vanquished its foe is sure to eat him. 
As may be imagined from the tasks which it performs in driving burrows through the earth, 
the muscular strength of the Mole Cricket is exceedingly great; and when the insect is 
held in the hand, its struggles for escape are apt to inflict rather sharp scratches on the skin 
of the captor. 
The color of the Mole Cricket is brown of different tints, darker upon the thorax than on 
the wing-covers, both of which organs are covered with a very fine and short down. 
As might be surmised from the extraordinary muscular power of the fore-legs, the Mole 
Cricket can burrow with great rapidity. The excavation is of a rather complicated form, con- 
sisting of a moderately large chamber with neatly smoothed walls, and many winding passages 
communicating with this central apartment. In the chamber are placed from one to four 
hundred eggs of a dusky yellow color; and the roof of the apartment is so near the surface 
of the ground that the warmth of the sunbeams penetrates through the shallow layer of earth, 
and causes the eggs to be hatched. 
The Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa) is very common, and destructive to vegetation in the 
yarmer portions of the United States. Its ravages on the sugar-cane is of a serious nature. 
The G. borealis is found in New England, in moist earth near ponds. 
There is a singular species, called Schizodéctylus monstréisus, now common in the insect 
cases sent from India, which is notable for the manner in which the enormously long wings 
and their covers are rolled at their tips into spiral coils. This belongs to the same family 
as the mole cricket, and, like that insect. is a burrower, making holes nearly a yard 
in depth. 
Tue Miararory Locust, represented in the accompanying colored illustration, is a well- 
known instance of a very large family of insects represented in our own land by many 
examples. All the Locusts and Grasshoppers are vegetable feeders ; and in many cases their 
voracity is so insatiable, their jaws so powerful, and their numbers so countless, that they 
destroy every vestige of vegetation wherever they may pass, and devastate the country as if a 
fire had swept over it. 
Such is the case with the Migratory Locust, so called from its habit of congregating 
in vast armies, which fly like winged clouds over the earth, and, wherever they alight, strip 
every living plant of its verdure. So assiduously do they ply their busy jaws, that the 
peculiar sound produced by the champing of the leaves, twigs, and grass blades can be heard 
at a considerable distance. When they take to flight, the rushing of their wings is like the 
roaring of the sea; and as their armies pass through the air, the sky is darkened as if by 
black thunder-ciouds. 
The family Cicadari@ includes an interesting group of insects, called in New England, 
incorrectly, locusts. Cicada is the generic name of the common “‘locust.’? Another species, 
called seventeen-year locusts, is notable for the great length of time the grubs live. During 
seventeen years the grubs live under ground, feeding on the roots of trees. The oak-tree is a 
favorite. At the termination of the period the grubs have attained their adult condition, when 
