HABITS OF THE CRICKETS. 
151 
|jy these different insects are produced. In the male cricket 
these make a part of the wing-covers, the horizontal and over- 
lapping portion of which, near the thorax, is convex, and 
marked with large, strong, and irregularly curved veins. 
When the cricket shrills, (we cannot say sings, for he has 
no vocal organs,) he raises the wing-covers a little, and 
shuffles them together lengthwise, so that the projecting 
veins of one are made to grate against those of the other. 
The English name cricket, and the French cri-cri, are evi- 
dently derived from the creaking sounds of these insects. 
Mr. White of Selborne says that “ the shrilling of the field- 
cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously de- 
lights some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer 
ideas of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous ” ; 
sentiments in which few persons, if any, in America will 
participate ; for with us the creaking of crickets does not 
begin till summer is gone, and the continued and monotonous 
sounds, which they keep up during the whole night, so 
long as autumn lasts, are both wearisome and sad. Where 
crickets abound, they do great injury to vegetation, eating 
the most tender parts of plants, and even devouring roots 
and fruits, whenever they can get them. Melons, squashes, 
and even potatoes, are often eaten by them, and the quantity 
of grass that they destroy must he great, from the immense 
numbers of these insects which are sometimes seen in our 
meadows and fields. They may be poisoned in the same 
way as mole-crickets. Crickets are not entirely confined 
to a vegetable diet ; they devour other insects whenever they 
can meet with and can overpower them. They deposit their 
eggs, which are numerous, in the ground, making holes for 
their reception, with their long, spear-pointed piercers. The 
eggs are laid in the autumn, and do not appear to be hatched 
till the ensuing summer. The old insects for the most part, 
die on the approach of cold weather ; but a few survive the 
winter, by sheltering themselves under stones, or in holes 
secure from the access of water. 
