9 3 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
Mole Cricket deposits its eggs, which are generally from two to 
three hundred in number, and yellowish in colour. As the 
chamber lies so near the surface of the ground, the genial sun- 
beams are able to raise the temperature sufficient for the hatch- 
ing of the eggs, which in due course of time produce the tiny 
young, little white creatures, very like the parent in shape, 
except that they have no wings. They do not attain the perfect 
state until the third year. 
The black-bodied Field Cricket (A chela campestris ) is also 
one of the burrowing Orthoptera, working tunnels of consider- 
able depth, and living in them during the day. By night it 
comes out of its home and sits at the mouth, chirping away for 
hours together. The banks at the side of a road or lane are 
favourite resorts of the Field Cricket, and I have noticed the 
insect peculiarly plentiful in the roads and lanes between Rams- 
gate and Margate. Like the mole cricket, it is of a very com- 
bative nature, and may be drawn out of its tunnel by the simple 
process of pushing a grass-stem down the burrow. It is said 
that in France it is captured in rather a curious manner, an ant 
being tied to a thread and dropped into the hole. Being partly 
carnivorous, the cricket seizes the ant for the purpose of eating 
it, and is immediately dragged out of its house by the thread. 
Before leaving the earth-burro wers, it is necessary to mention 
the larva of the common May-fly, or Ephemera. Sometimes 
this larva hides itself under stones, but it often burrows under 
the muddy banks, and there constructs a very curious habita- 
tion. If a portion of the mud be carefully removed, it will 
be seen to be perforated by a series of holes, a few being 
nearly circular, but the greater part oval, the long diameter 
being horizontal, in order to suit the peculiar shape of the 
inhabitant. 
These are the habitations of the Ephemera grub ; and if the 
block of mud be laid open, so as to exhibit longitudinal sections 
of the holes, the spectator will perceive that each hole is double, 
the two tubes lying parallel to each other, and being in fact 
only one tube bent upon itself. 
