HALF-WINQED INSECTS. 



367 



amounting to the amazing number of one hundred and fifty. She 

 is provided with an instrument resembling a two-edged sword, by 

 which she pierces the earth as deep as she can, and thus prepares 

 a suitable place for depositing her eggs. This operation she sur- 

 vives only for a short time. On the approach of winter she dries 

 up, and then dies like a shrivelled old man, with complete decay. 



The Cricket is so well known as not to need description 

 One sp-bcies, however, the Mole Cricket, which is, the pest of 

 farmers and gardeners, burrows in the ground, and depositing from 

 two hundred to four hundred eggs at a time, may require mention. 

 When full grown, the Mole Cricket measures nearly two inches in 

 length, and four lines in breadth. Its color is dark brown ; head 

 oval, small and longish; two bristle-shaped and strong feelers; 

 thorax covered with fine woolly hair; wings very broad and tri- 

 angular, when expanded ; abdomen soft ; the two fore feet propor- 

 tionally short, but broad and strong, adapted to dig in the earth. 



The Cockroach {Blatta orientalis) belongs to the family 

 Blattidae. It was originally brought from abroad, and has com- 

 pletely domesticated itself, just as the brown rat has done, so that 

 few houses are free from it. 



Plant Lice. — These insects are usually found upon the 

 leaves and stems of plants ; and the weaker the leaves and buds 



Plant Lice. 



are, these insects swarm upon them in greater abundance. Some 

 plants are covered over with them, though they are not the cause 



