54 



PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



leaps, the hind femora being greatly thickened and enlarged, kangaroo- 

 like. In color the house cricket is light yellowish-brown, and its squarish 

 body and spherical head are very characteristic. The antennjB or feelers 

 are very long and thread-like, exceeding the body in length. 



The chirping song of the cricket is produced only by the male, and 

 is supposed to be a love call. If so, it has been pointed out that it 

 evidently betokens, on account of its long continuance, a patient per- 

 sistence which deserves the highest encomium. It is produced by the 

 friction or stridulation of the ui^per wings over each other. At the 

 base of each of these wings is a large talc-like spot — the crepitaculum — 



which is characterized by 

 its inflated appearance 

 and its very coarse, irreg- 

 ular veining. By rasping 

 or scraping the file-like 

 under surface of one wing 

 over the roughening of the 

 other the vibrant note of 

 the cricket is x)roduced. 

 The song is, therefore, 

 analogous to that made 

 by an instrument rather 

 than to the voiceor sounds 

 of higher animals. To be 

 at all significant to the in- 

 sect, however, it must be 

 heard, and what seems to 

 be the insect ear is found 

 in curious organs on the 

 fore tibi.T, represented in 



the 



21, 



', (1, 6, 



Fig. 21. — Gryllus assimilis : a, female; &, male; c, fZ, fore tibiae, 

 inner and outer views showing drums of ear; e and /, drums 

 or tympana — enlarged (original). 



illustration (fi< 



/). 

 The house cricket usu- 

 ally occurs on the ground 

 floor of dwellings, and 

 evinces its liking for warmth by often occurring in the vicinity of 

 fireplaces, concealing itself between the bricks of chimneys or behind 

 baseboards, frequently burrowing into the mortar of walls. It is par- 

 ticularly apt to abound in bakehouses. It is rarely very abundant, 

 but at times multiplies excessively and becomes a very serious nuisance. 

 During cold weather, or in cold rooms in winter, it remains torpid, but 

 under the influence of warmth it becomes active and musical. It is 

 easily kept in captivity as a pet, and will reward the possessor by 

 furnivshing an abundance of its peculiar melody, and in Spain it is often 

 kept, it is reported, in cages, as we do singing birds. It is in the main 

 nocturnal in its habits, coming out in the dusk of evening and roaming 



