68 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



Okthopteea. Achetid^, 



GEYLLOTALPA. 



Generic Distinctions. — Antenna short and slender ; wings and 

 wing-covers horizontal ; tarsi three-jointed ; fore legs very broad. 



Gryllotalpa vulgaeiSj or Geyllus gryllotalpa 

 (Plate TII.)^ the Mole Cricket, is about an inch and a half 

 or two inches long, nearly cylindrical, and of a brown colour ; 

 its legs, being formed for the purpose of burrowing in the 

 ground, are broad and notched ; the body is terminated by 

 two long, stiff bristles ; it inhabits the sides of canals and 

 damp soils, in which, just below the surface, it forms long 

 winding burrows and a chamber, neatly smoothed, in which, 

 about the middle of May, it deposits nearly a hundred eggs. 

 This singular insect makes a dull jarring sound, continued for 

 a long time without interruption, like that of the Pern Owl ; 

 farmers suppose it does injury by loosening the earth round 

 the roots of vegetables, upon which it is said to subsist, 

 though Latreille thinks it feeds on worms and insects. 



Okthopteea. Achetid^. 

 AGHETA. 

 Generic Distinctions. — Antenna very long ; wings and wing- 

 covers horizontal ; tai'si three-jointed ; legs slender. 



