388 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
acterize them are as familiar to everyone as the aspect of their 
burrowing and chmbing cousins is strange. Existing in count- 
less numbers in the fields and pastures, living close to the ground, 
upon and in it in fact, they must be reckoned, by reason of their 
abundance and ubiquity in temperate and torrid climes, as one of 
the dominant forms of insect life. 
Key to New England Species of Gryllinae. 
(Plate 16.) 
A. Large species with body one-half to three-fourths of an inch long. First 
joint of hind tarsi flat above, with a row of short, stout spines on each side 
(Gryllus). 
B. Head black; ground-color black, tegmina and base of hind femora often 
paler Common Field-cricket, Gryllus assimilis, p. 389. 
BB. Head with a narrow transverse black bar from eye to eye, bordered 
above and below by a yellow bar. Ground-color yellowish, marked 
with black European House-cricket, G. domesticus, p. 391. 
AA. Small or medium-sized species. First joint of hind tarsi not spinose above 
but rounded and hairy {Nemobius). 
C. Hind tibiae with the ventral pair of apical spurs unequal in length. 
D. Size medium to large for this genus. Ovipositor equal to or longer 
than hind thighs and nearly straight. 
E. Ovipositor relatively short, equal to or slightly longer than hind 
thighs. Tegmina of female short, about one-fourth longer than 
pronotum, usually spotted with fuscous. Eyes usually nearly 
surrounded with yellowish on cranium. Occiput spotted, not longi- 
tudinally striped. Size medium. 
Spotted Cricket, Nemobius maculatus, p. 396. 
EE. Ovipositor relatively long, distinctly longer than hind thighs. 
Tegmina one and a half to one and three-quarters times as long as 
the pronotum (still longer in long-winged examples). 
F. Size medium. Rather slender. Face below antennae black. 
Dorsal surface of head, pronotum, abdomen, and hind thighs with 
gray pile, interspersed with black bristles. Tegmina gray above, 
usually with a fuscous stripe along anal vein in female. 
Sand Cricket, A^. griseus, p. 395. 
FF. Size larger. More robust. Varying greatly in size, color, and 
markings but without the distinctive combinations of characters 
of the two preceding species. 
Common Grass-cricket or Striped Cricket, N. fasciatus, p. 393. 
DD. Size very small. Ovipositor shorter than hind thighs, upcurved. 
G. Coloration nearly or quite sohd brown or black, without distinct 
markings. Abdomen usually wholly dark brown beneath. 
Sphagnum Cricket, N. palustris, p. 398. 
