100 
QRTHOPTERA. 
instruments. These insects grow to a length of over one inch, the head 
and prothorax very hard, the antennae short, the wings tightly wrapped 
round the soft abdomen (fig. 37). As in other Gryllids, the hind 
wings are extended backwards and appear as a slender process beyond 
the tegmina when at rest. There is a pair of cerci at the end of the 
abdomen. The forelegs are extremely powerful and by digging and press¬ 
ing, the hard head and prothorax is forced through the soil, the soft 
abdomen and weaker posterior legs following. The female is destitute of 
an ovipositor and lays her eggs (fig. 38) in the burrow, which extends to 
a considerable depth below the surface. These eggs have been found in 
Fig. 38—Gryllotalpa afbicana ; eggs, beduced to f, and jsymph. 
a cluster in the moist sand of the river bank, soft white oval eggs lying 
loosely in a round chamber at some depth in the sand. The young 
