INSECTA — CRICKET. 833 



so great, that an interval of three or four days repairs the calamity ; but in 

 the north of Europe, the verdure is the livery of a season; and when lost, 

 the inhabitants must wait till the ensuing spring repairs the damage. Be- 

 sides, in their long flights to this part of the world, they are famished by the 

 tediousness of their journey, and are therefore more voracious wherever they 

 happen to settle. But it is not by what they devour that they do so much 

 damage, as what they destroy. Their very bite is thought to contaminate the 

 plant, and to prevent its vegetation. To use the expression of the husband- 

 man, they burn whatever they touch, and leave the marks of their devasta- 

 tion for two or three years ensuing. But if they be noxious while living, 

 they are still more so when dead; for wherever they fall, they infect the air 

 in such a manner, that the smell is insupportable. 



THE CRICKETi 



Very much resembles the grasshopper in its shape, its manner of ruminat- 

 ing, its voice, its leaping, and methods of propagation. It differs in its 

 color, which is uniformly of a rusty brown ; in its food, which is more vari- 

 ous ; and in its place of residence, which is most usually in the warmest 

 chinks behind a country hearth. They are, in some measure, obliged to the 

 bad masonry employed in making peasants' houses for their retreats. The 

 smallest chink serves to give them shelter, and where they once make their 

 abode they are sure to propagate. They are of a most chilly nature, seldom 

 leaving the fireside ; and if undisturbed, are seen to hop from their retreats 

 to chirp at the blaze in the chimney. The wood cricket is the most timorous 

 animal in nature ; but the chimney cricket, being used to noises, disregards 

 them. Whether the voice of this animal is formed in the same manner 

 with that of the grasshopper, is not yet ascertained ; nor do we well know 

 the use of this voice, since anatomical inspection has not been able to discover 

 the smallest organs of hearing. Still, however, we can make no doubt of 

 their power of distinguishing sounds, though probably not in the same man- 

 ner with the more perfect ranks of nature. Certain it is, that they have been 

 often heard to call, and this call is as regularly answered by another, al- 

 though none but the males are vocal. 



' Gryllus domestieus, Lin. 



105 70* 



