20 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



euphorbia that was sighted flying one afternoon along the weedy 

 bank of the Kiver Hamble that I imagine had come over the 

 water in a lobster-smack or French lugger. All creatures like 

 to bask during winter in the artificial warmth of fires and candles, 

 hence Crickets and Cockroaches have become domesticated and 

 go voyages on board ship, and the latter, from indolence, have 

 become like the Dodo and Solitaire, more or less apterous. In 

 the autumn of 1873 an omnivorous brood of young House- 

 Crickets {Gryllus domesticus) were scampering over the grate of 

 a London kitchen in Maida Vale, and the following winter, as 

 the bellows kindled the fire to a ruddy glow, the hearth com- 

 menced to echo to a tune of " awhit-awhit ! " resembling the 

 sound of a stone running along the ice ; this continued as long 

 as the fire burnt brightly, but when it got low a doleful " wee- 

 wee!" was alone heard at intervals. One evening, when left in 

 charge of the house, I heard this uncomfortable lament, and on 

 descending found the servants vanished, and the steps, of which 

 they had availed themselves in their flight, placed against the 

 area railings. When the mornings were frosty and the coals 

 smouldered the Crickets prolonged their music until the break 

 of day, and once I surprised a Christmas party making merry at 

 noon. I captured a female whose charms were the cause of this 

 unusual excitement, and then the uproar subsided ; but when I 

 set her free, and she had rejoined her companions, it recom- 

 menced. When enclosed together the House-Crickets have a 

 fight. The small Wood-Cricket {Nemobius sylvestris) abounds on 

 the Continent, and in August, 1898, 1 heard the males making a 

 reposeful snoring "ru-ru!" in a ferny coppice at Bagnoles. 

 Mr. Scudder says the Black Cricket {Gryllus niger) of North 

 America sounds out " cree ! " and the Spotted Cricket (Nemobius 

 vittatus*) sounds "ru! " The loud music with which the CEcanthus 

 pellucens that lives on the trees and bushes of the Leopoldsberg 

 hails the sunset is commented on in the < Monatschrift ' of 

 Vienna. In Switzerland it is found among Artemisia. 



It is said that the larger number of the Leaf-Crickets are South 

 American, and South America is doubtless their native country. 

 The males as a rule have a more or less S-shaped, raised, musical 

 * N. fasciatus, De Geer, var. vittatus, Scudd. (Kirby, Syn. Cat. Ortliopt. 

 vol. ii.). 



