o 



40 



Marvels of the Universe 



Guinea, not on the occasion of his own explorations of the coast of that huge island, but from 

 persons who accompanied Cook on his second expedition to the South Seas. This imposing Cockatoo 

 is mainlj- a gloss\^ greenish-black in colour, with a large crest. The sombre tints of its plumage are 

 relieved by a band of scarlet across the middle of the inner side of the outer tail feathers. Unlike 

 what occurs in most parrots, where the sexes can scarcely be told apart, the female of Banks' 

 Cockatoo dilifers from the male in having the head and part of the back spotted with vellow and 

 the under surface barred with yellow and russet. Banks' Black Cockatoos feed (appropriatelv 

 enough) on the seeds of the banksia tree and on the cones of the casuarina. Thev fly hea\'ily and 

 much less willingly than the White Cockatoos, and their cry is less of a scream than of a low whine. 



THE MOLE CRICKET 



It is a trite observation to say that when 

 Xature sets any of her subjects to do a given 

 piece of work, she provides them with efficient 

 tools for the purpose ; but one cannot help 

 being struck bj' the fact that two of her ex- 

 cavators, as far removed in relationship as 

 are the poles from the equator, are fitted out 

 with similar appliances and with a general 

 similarity of body form. The Mole Cricket is 

 a near relation of the merry chirper that 

 likes to be in close proximity to our kitchen 

 fireplaces, where there are manv scraps of 

 food to be found as well as cheerful warmth. 

 The Mole Cricket, however, prefers to make 

 a home of his own in loose soil, where he 

 can hunt for his food. He sinks a more or 

 less vertical shaft, and works much like the 

 mole, scraping the soil with the claw-hke 

 edges of his digging feet and throwing it 

 behind him. In so doing he comes across 

 tender roots, which he cuts through and 

 eats ; likewise worms and the grubs of 

 beetles, which also serve to appease a rather 

 voracious appetite. From his main shaft 

 he bores horizontal galleries right and left, 

 to give him a greater extent of hunting-ground. His wife likes a special chamber just below 

 the surface, in which she deposits three or four hundred eggs, and watches them until they are 

 hatched. She is even said to guard her grubs and feed them until their first change of skin, after- 

 wards letting each fend for itself. The young are much like their parents in miniature, except that 

 they have no wdngs. As in aU the Grasshopper tribe, to which they belong, these come gradually ; 

 but it is not till about three years after the eggs were laid that the new generation has become fuUy 

 fledged. Like the House Cricket and the Cicada, the male Mole Cricket " sings " at night by 

 rubbing his upper wings one over the other, producing a soft continuous trill. Though common 

 in Central and Southern Europe, the Mole Cricket is only found locally in the south of England 

 and is entirely absent from the north. 



Occasionally he turns up in garden-ground and is then regarded as a great pest by the gardener 

 •owing to his habit of cutting through roots and eating them. 



By permission of] 



THE MOLE 



CRICKET WALKS 



[^fessrs. Leitz. 

 ABROAD. 



light soil . 



The Mole Cricket likes to have his burrow in light soil and 

 near ^valer. He issues forth only at night, and sings a low co 

 tinued trill. As in the case of the Cicada, the females are mut 



