CHAPTER XIV 



OETHOPTEEA fJONTI^^UEI) GItYLLIDAE, CRICKETS 



Fam. VIII. Gryllidae — Crickets. 



Antennae, very slender, generally lonij and setaceous; hind legs 

 long, saltatorial. Tcgmina ivith the older portion dcflcxed 

 on to the side of the hody, and with the inner fiart lying flat 

 on the hody. Tarsi usually three-jointed (^rarely tivo- or four- 

 jointed). Female with a long ovipositor {excejpt in Uryllotal- 

 pides). Apterous forms numerous. 



The Gryllidae are closely connected with the Lociistidae, the 



musical and auditory organs 

 being in both similarly situate, 

 and the female in both possess- 

 ing, in most of the tribes, an 

 elongate exserted ovipositor. 

 The two families differ in the 

 number of joints of the tarsi, 

 in the form of the tegmina, 

 and in the fact that in Gryl- 

 lidae the portion of the wing 

 modified for musical purposes 

 consists of a larger portion 

 of the organ — according to 

 de Saussure, the discoidal as 

 well as the anal area. 



The family would be a 

 very natural one if we were 

 to exclude from it the mole-crickets which have fossorial front 

 legs and no ovipositor, and the Tridactylides, which also are 



Fig. 204.— House-cricket, Gnjllus [Acheta) 

 domesticus, male. 



