212 
Dr. Kidd on the 
to watch its habits, will repeatedly observe the antennae bent 
forwards and downwards, by a curious application of the 
fore-legs towards the mouth : and then by a regulated mo- 
tion, not unlike that by which the resin is applied to the bow 
of a violin, they are passed between the maxillae : in order, 
as it would appear, either to moisten the organs, or to disen- 
gage from their surface, particles of dust or other extraneous 
substances which may have accidentally adhered to it. With 
a more rapid motion the insect from time to time dresses, if I 
may use the expression, its palpi ; bending them inwards 
and brushing the surface of their extreme parts by a frequent 
application of the maxillae. A similar care of the antennae 
and palpi is observable in the gryllus viridissimus ; with the 
additional circumstance, that that insect very often passes 
between its maxillae the curiously padded surfaces of its 
feet, much in the same manner as a cat licks its paws. 
The eyes* The gryllotalpa has two compound eyes, as 
they are called, and two ocelli or stemmata. Latreille 
uses this expression “ ocellus medius subobiteratus from 
which it may be inferred that he supposes the ocelli to be 
three in number ; but after the most careful examination I 
have not been able to discover more than two. The com- 
pound eyes are situated immediately behind, but a little exte- 
riorly to the antennas : the cornese of these eyes, which are 
large in proportion to the size of the head, are segments of 
a sphere ; flattened however on the inner side so as to pre- 
sent a vertical plane surface to a similar plane surface in the 
opposite eye ; and it is remarkable that this part of the cornea, 
and the mere margin of the rest of it, are the only parts 
* Vide fig. 1 and 2. 
