ECOLOGY — INTERPRETATION OF ENVIRONMENT 387 



of the crickets are excellent ventriloquists, making it very 

 difBcult to locate the deceptive males by their songs. Occa- 

 sionally, though, led by their notes, one may succeed in finding 

 this species, under stones and debris. One such case which I 

 now recall is the male figured in the text photographic illustra- 

 tion. It was heard on June eighteenth, singing under a stone 

 in an imcultivated meadow, south of Jackson Park, Chicago. 

 Here he was found as the soUtary occupant. But I have met 

 with this species in various localities. In the landscape view 

 given in the chapter on the Habitat of the Orthoptera, at 

 Lakeside, Michigan, this species was a common frequenter of 

 the grassy retreats, often hiding under collections of leaves or 

 old chunks of wood. 



The crickets have not yet been studied as carefully as these 

 interesting insects deserve, possibly because no one but an 

 expert can identify some of them. The resemblances of certain 

 different species are so close that naturalists have often ignored 

 their distinguishing characters. In Blatchley's work on "The 

 Orthoptera of Indiana" will be found the most reliable 

 information regarding our species. Some crickets are said 

 to be cannibalistic, and will not hesitate to devour members of 

 their own species. 



I once found evidence of the ravenous appetites of crickets 

 during an excursion afield. I came upon a dead shrew-mole, 

 during September, lying on the ground, which had evidently 

 been killed but a short time previously. Four or five large 

 black crickets, Gryllus abbreviatus, were eating voraciously 

 from the shoulder and abdomen of this little mammal. Upon 

 close examination, I found a fresh cavity in the side of the body, 

 from which the flesh had been cleanly eaten from the scapula 

 and vertebrae between the shoulders. I surmised that possibly 

 the crickets were responsible for the death of the mole. 



