THE GRYLLUS, 



161 



The black-bodied Field Ckicket {Acheta campestris) is also 

 one of the burrowing Orthoptera, working tunnels of consider- 

 able depth, and living in them during the day. By night it 

 comes out of its home and sits at the mouth, chirping away for 

 hours together. The banks at the side of a road or lane are 

 favourite resorts of the Field Cricket, and I have noticed the 

 insect peculiarly plentiful in the roads and lanes between Eams- 

 gate and Margate. Like the mole cricket, it is of a very com- 

 bative nature, and maj' be drawn out of its tunnel by the simple 

 process of pushing a grass-stem down the burrow. It is said 

 that in France it is captured in rather a curious manner, an ant 

 being tied to a thread and dropped into the hole. Being partly 

 carnivorous, the cricket seizes the ant for the purpose of eating 

 it, and is immediately dragged out of its house by the thread. 



OBTLLUB DEPOSmHG EGG.«. 



In the accompanying illustration is shown one of the weU- 

 known grasshoppers in the act of depositing its eggs. Its 

 popular name is the Waet-bitee, and its scientific title Qryllus, 

 [or Bectieus] verrucivonts, this name being given to it because 

 its bite is thought to have the property of removing warts. 



If the reader wiU refer to the illustration, he will see that the 



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