242 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



examine the cEconomy of these grylli, and study their 

 mode of Hfe : but they are so shy and cautious that it is 

 no easy matter to get a sight of them ; for, feehng a 

 person's footsteps as he advances, they stop short in the 

 midst of their song, and retire backward nimbly into 

 their burrows, where they lurk till all suspicion of danger 

 is over. 



At first we attempted to dig them out with a spade, 

 but without any great success ; for either we could not get 

 to the bottom of the hole, which often terminated under 

 a great stone ; or else, in breaking up the ground, we 

 inadvertently squeezed the poor insect to death. 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 skin. By this accident we learned to dis- 

 tinguish the male from the female ; the former of which 

 is shining black, with a golden stripe across his shoulders ; 

 the latter is more duskj^ more capacious about the 

 abdomen, and carries a long sword-shaped weapon at her 

 tail, which probably is the instrument with which she 

 deposits her eggs in crannies and safe receptacles. 



Where violent methods will not avail, more gentle 

 means .will often succeed ; 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 quickly bring out the inhabitant ; and 

 Lhus 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 holes they show no activity, but crawl 

 along in a shiftless 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 



