OF SEL BORNE. 255 
"burning atmofpliere which they inhabit, they are a thirfty race, 
and fiiew a great propenfity for liquids, being found frequently 
drowned in pans of water, milk, broth, or the like. Whatever 
is moift they affeft ; and therefore often gnaw holes in wet 
woollen {lockings and aprons that are hung to the fire : they are 
the houfewife's barometer, foretelling her when it will rain ; and 
are prognoftic fometimes, flie thinks, of ill or good luck ; of the 
death of a near relation, or the approach of an abfent lover. 
By being the conftant companions of her folitary hours they 
naturally become the objeds of her fuperftition. Thefe crickets 
are not only very thirfty, but very voracious ; for they will eat 
the fcummings of pots, and yeaft, fait, and crumbs of bread ; 
and any kitchen offal or fweepings. In the fummer we have ob- 
ferved them to fly, v/hen it became du/k, out of the windcvs, 
and over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of aftivity accounts 
for the fudden manner in which they often leave their haunts, as 
it does for the method by which they come to houfes where they 
were not known before. It is remarkable, that many forts of 
infedls fecm never to ufe their wings but when tliey have a mind 
to fhift their quarters and fettle new colonics. When in the air 
they move volatii undofo,'" in waves or curves, like zvood-peckcrs, 
opening and fluitting their wings at every ftroke, and fo are 
always rifing or finking. 
When they increafe to a great degree, as they did once in the 
houfe where I am now writing, they become noifome pefts, flying 
into the candles, and dafliing into people's faces ; but may be 
blafted and deftroyed by gunpowder difcharged into their cre- 
vices and crannies. In families, at fuch times, they are, like 
Pharaoh's plague of frogs, — " in their bedchambers, and upon 
their beds, and in their ovens, and in their kneading- 
troughs," 
