212 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
they are like Pharaoh’s plague of frogs, —‘“in their bed- 
chambers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, and in 
their kneading troughs.” ? ‘Their shrilling noise is occasioned 
by a brisk attrition of their wings. Cats catch hearth-crickets, 
and, playing with them as they do with mice, devour them. 
Crickets may be destroyed, like wasps, by phials half filled 
with beer, or any liquid, and set in their haunts; for being 
always eager to drink, they will crowd in till the bottles are 
full. 
LETTER XLIII. 
SELBORNE. 
How diversified are the modes of life not only of incon- 
gruous but even of congenerous animals ; and yet their specific 
distinctions are not more various than their propensities. 
Thus, while the field-cricket delights in sunny dry banks, and 
the house-cricket rejoices amidst the glowing heat of the 
kitchen hearth or oven, the mole-cricket haunts moist meadows, 
and frequents the sides of ponds and banks of streams, per- 
forming all its functions in a swampy wet soil. With a pair of 
fore-feet, curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and 
works under ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it pro- 
ceeds, but seldom throwing up hillocks. 
As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides of canals, 
they are unwelcome guests to the gardener, raising up ridges 
in their subterranean progress, and rendering the walks 
unsightly. If they take to the kitchen quarters they occasion 
great damage among the plants and roots, by destroying whole 
beds of cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. When dug out 
they seem very slow and helpless, and make no use of their 
wings by day; but at night they come abroad, and make long 
1 Exod. viii. 3. 
