3 34 GRVLLIDAE 



the mole-cricket causes some damage where it is abundant. It 

 is now a rare Insect in England, and is almost confined to the 

 southern counties, but in the gardens of Central and Southern 

 Europe it is very abundant. Its French name courtilitrc is 

 supposed to lie a corruption of the Latin curtilla. Its fondness 

 for the neighbourhood of water is well known. De Saussure 

 says that in order to secure specimens it is only necessary to 

 throw water on the paths between the flower-beds of gardens 

 and to cover the wetted places with pieces of board ; in the 

 morning some of these Insects are almost sure to be found under 

 the boards disporting themselves in the mud. The Gryllotalpae 

 swim admirably Ijy aid of their broad front legs. 



Ears exist in the mole-cricket, and are situate on the front 

 leg below the knee, as in other Gryllidae, although it seems strange 

 that a leg so profoundly modified for digging and excavating 

 as is that of the mole-cricket should be provided with an ear. 

 In Gryllotalfa the ear is concealed and protected by being 

 placed in a deep slit or fold of the surface, and this depression 

 is all that can be seen by examination of the exterior (Fig. 206, e). 

 In the allied genus Scapteriscus the tympanal membrane is, how- 

 ever, destitute of special protection, being completely exposed on 

 the surface of the leg. 



Although the tegmina or upper wings in Gryllotalpa are of 

 small size, yet the true wings are much more ample ; they are 

 of delicate texture and traversed by many nearly straight radii, 

 so that they close up in the most complete manner, and form 

 the two long delicate, flexible processes that in the state of repose 

 may be seen projecting not only beyond the tegmina, but actually 

 surpassing the extremity of the body hanging down behind it, 

 and looking like a second pair of cerci. 



The mole-cricket is believed to be chiefly carnivorous in its 

 diet, though, like many other Orthoptera, it can accommodate 

 its appetite to parts of the vegetable as well as of the animal 

 kingdom. The Insect is capable of emitting a sound consisting 

 of a dull jarring note, somewhat like that of the goat-sucker. 

 For this purpose the tegmina of the males are provided with an 

 apparatus of the nature we have already descriljed, but which is 

 very much smaller and less elaborate than it is in the true 

 crickets. 



The alimentary canal and digestive system of Gryllotalpa 



