48o DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



which has spread itself even into the smoky 

 cabins of the Laplanders. The grjllus mon- 

 struosus (n° i) is the most extraordinary spe- 

 cies ; its wings are rolled in a spiral form, and 

 its tarsi are much widened. The male of the 

 g, umbraculatus (n°n), a species peculiar to 

 Spain and Barbary, has a sort of veil on its head. 

 It would be useless to speak here of the species 

 of our own country (n os 8, 9 and 12). To this 

 genus is united the gryllus gryllotalpa, or mole- 

 cricket, which burrows under ground in the 

 manner of a mole. These insects are spread in 

 every part of the world: they, together with 

 the genera gryllus, acridium, and truxalis, form 

 a division remarkable for two important cha- 

 racters, the faculty of hopping, and that of pro- 

 ducing a monotonous sound by means of friction, 

 which is commonly called chirping. Among the 

 grasshoppers the males alone enjoy this property, 

 and nature has converted a part of their wing- 

 shells into a musical instrument ; the hinder legs 

 of the acridium act the part of the bow of a vio- 

 lin, which the animal passes rapidly over the ex- 

 terior surface of its wing-sheaths. The abdo- 

 men of the female locust terminates in a long 

 sword-shaped process, with which she pierces 

 the ground in order to deposit her eggs. The 

 prevailing shades among the grasshoppers and 



