GrRYLLIDiE. 
99 
3’. Posterior tibiae serrate and spinose on each side, the apical 
spurs, as usual, three on each side. Ovipositor straight or curved. 
Tribe 7. Eneopterides. 
We may here discuss the group under divisions including the Tridac- 
tijlince (small surface crickets), Gryllotalpince (mole crickets), Gryllince 
(house and field crickets, burrowing crickets), Oecanihince (plant 
crickets). 
Tridactylince are small insects, measuring about one-quarter of an 
inch in length ; the antennae are short with about ten joints, the wings 
Fig. 36— Tridactylus sp. x 8. 
in some are imperfectly developed, in some fully developed ; the abdo¬ 
men terminates in six processes like cerci, which are hairy and strongly 
suggest the hairy processes used by some aquatic larvae to support 
themselves on the surface film of water while they get air. The hind 
legs terminate in two straight processes, the tarsus not being formed, and 
the tibia also bears lateral processes, which apparently are spread out 
upon the wet soil on which the insect lives and act as supports ; these 
lateral processes are also capable of being closed up. These little insects 
live upon damp soil; they are common on the banks of tanks, in irrigated 
fields, in watered gardens ; they prepare small galleries by burrowing 
along the surface of the soil and live in these burrows. They form a very 
large part of the tiny “flies” which crowd in hordes round lamps in such 
places as Calcutta and are enormously abundant in places near large 
rivers. Tridactylus variegatus , Latr. in Europe is said to burrow in the 
sand of river banks. Tridactylus thoracicus, Guer. from the Nilgiris, T. 
major, Scudd. from “India” and T. castetsi , Bol. from Trichinopoly are 
our recorded species. 
Gryllotalpince include large insects, which are characterised readily 
by the forelegs, which are profoundly modified to form powerful digging 
