THE MOLE CRICKET. 
97 
the Croaker, or Churr-worm, on account of the peculiar 
sound which it produces. It is a truly wonderful insect, one 
of those beings, which for the sake of force, we may perhaps 
call the anomalies of nature, though, in fact, nature is perfectly 
harmonious, and can have no real anomalies. A cursory 
glance at the insect will at once point out its habits, for the 
general shape, as well as the strange development of the fore- 
limbs, and the peculiar formation of the first pair of feet, are so 
similar to the corresponding members of the mole that the 
identity of their pursuits is at once evident. 
Like the mole, the insect passes nearly the whole of its life 
underground, digging out long passages by means of its spade- 
like limbs, and traversing them with some swiftness. Like the 
mole, it is fierce and quarrelsome, is even ready to fight with its 
kind, and if victorious, always tears to pieces its vanquished 
opponent. Like the mole, it is exceedingly voracious, and re- 
quires so much food, that if several of them be confined in the 
same cage and kept only Lor a short time without food, the 
strongest will fall upon the weakest, kill and devour them. 
To procure the insect is no easy matter, for it always burrows 
to some considerable depth when the soil is so loose, and a 
labourer with a spade would find much difficulty in disinterring 
it. The recognised method of procuring these insects is, to 
mark their holes by day and to visit them at dusk, just when 
the insects, which are nocturnal in their habits, are beginning 
to be lively. A long and pliant grass-blade is then pushed into 
the hole, the end is grasped in the jaws of the offended inhabi- 
tant, and both grass-blade and Mole Cricket are drawn out 
together. 
Just as the mole constructs a habitation distinct from its 
ordinary galleries, so does this insect form a chamber for 
domestic purposes apart from the tunnels which ramify in so 
many directions. Near the surface of the ground a really large 
chamber is constructed, measuring about three inches in dia- 
meter, and nearly one inch in height. It is made very neatly, 
and the walls are carefully smoothed. Within this chamber the 
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