OF SELBOENE. 
26S 
As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the 
attention of a naturalist, I have often gone down to examine 
the economy of these grylli, and study their mode of life ; 
but they are so shy and cautious that it is no easy matter to 
get a sight of them ; for, feeling a person^s footsteps as he 
advances, they stop short in the midst of their song, and 
retire backward nimbly into their burrows, where they lurk 
till all suspicion of danger is over. 
At first we attempted to dig them out with a spade, but 
without any great success : for either we could not get to 
the bottom of the hole, which often terminated under a 
great stone ; or else, in breaking up the ground, we inad* 
riELI) CRICKET. 
vertently squeezed the poor insect to death. Out of one so 
bruised we took a multitude of eggs, which were long and 
narrow, of a yellow colour, and covered with a very tough 
skin. By this accident we learned to distinguish the male 
from the female : the former of which is shining black, 
with a golden stripe across his shoulders ; the latter is more 
dusky, more capacious about the abdomen, and carries a 
long sword-shaped weapon at her tail, which probably is 
the instrument with which she deposits her eggs in crannies 
and safe receptacles. 
Where violent methods will not avail, more gentle means 
will often succeed ; and so it proved in the present case : 
for though a spade be too boisterous and rough an imple- 
ment, a pliant stalk of grass, gently insinuated into the 
caverns, will probe their windings to the bottom, and quicklj^ 
