ORTHOPTERA. 181 



the holes and merrily chirp their little love-songs, but at the first faint disturbance the 

 songs cease and the crickets disappear. 



The House Cricket, Gryllus domesticus, which is of a yellowish-gray color more or 

 less marked with brown tints, is smaller than the common field species, and hides itself 

 in holes and cracks in old walls and chimneys. It is sensitive to cold, and delights in 

 warm places. In towns it prefers bakeries and the neighborhood of ovens, and in the 

 country the most humble kitchen is favored with its merry chirp. It is common 

 throughout Europe, and has become quite common also in some of the eastern cities 

 of the United States, where it has been introduced from the Orient. Blending with 

 the ever-welcome croaking of the frog — that surest harbinger of spring — the first 

 insect note we hear is the shrill chirrup of an occasional field-cricket ; for a few of these 

 little black burrowers in the ground manage to live through the winter in the winged 

 state. Our two lai-gest species of field-crickets ai-e Gryllus luctuosus and Gryllus 

 abbreviatus. The former has very long elytra or fore- wings that project beyond the 

 end of the abdomen, while in the latter they are somewhat abbreviated. In New 

 England, as well as the middle northern States, Gryllus neglectus is the most common 

 species, from which Gryllus nigra differs in having a much shorter ovipositor. In 

 addition to these species there is a much smaller one, Nemobius vittatus, that is exceed- 

 ingly common in our fields and pastures during the latter part of summer and fall. 

 All of these crickets are herbivorous, and are especially fond of congregating under 

 piles of straw and other decaying vegetation where heat is generated. They also fre- 

 quent gi-anaries and barns, where they find plenty to sustain life, and get protection 

 from their dread enemies, the birds. 



The eggs of these crickets are laid loose in the soil to the number of from two 

 hundred to four hundred for each female, and chiefly during the autumn. There are 

 a great many allied genera of Gryllidse found in various parts of the world, all of them 

 having similar habits to those which we have described. 



In this family we find the smallest and most delicate of the Orthoptera. There is 

 a genus of crickets {Myrmecophila) the members of which live in the nests of various 

 species of ants. These diminutive species are very active, and at first glance resemble 

 very closely the quite young larvse of certain roaches that are also frequently met with 

 in similar localities. This resemblance is so close that the commonest European species, 

 Myrmecophila acervorum, was first described as Blattd acervorum. This species is most 

 frequently met with in central and southern Europe, where it lives with such species 

 of ants as make their nests under stones. It is of a somewhat globular form, without 

 wings, and has the posterior femora enormously developed. It is of a pale, dingy-brown 

 color, opaque, and measures, 3 to 3.5 mm. in length. A second and smaller species, 

 Myrmecophila ochracea, is found in south Germany and Switzerland. In the United 

 States, Myrmecophila pergandii is frequently met with in ants' nests in the vicinity of 

 Washington, while a single sj^ecimen has been taken in Washington Territory. 



Before leaving the crickets which dwell in the ground we must mention several 

 representatives of a group which is essentially tropical, and in which the front of the 

 head is produced into a leaf-like projection. One of these, Platyhlemmus Insitanicus, 

 is found in Spain and Portugal, where it lives under stones and fallen leaves. Stepho- 

 blemmus humbertiellus is found in the island of Ceylon. It has the front of the head 

 produced into a sort of crown. 



In addition to those crickets which dwell on the ground there are many which are 

 arboreal. They are known as tree-crickets, and prevail most in the tropics, though 



