260

FAMILY VII.-GRYLLID,E.

smaller and brighter colored. Like the mole crickets theyburrow, but are not so helpless away from their tunnels,as they can jump as well as the true crickets. It is not easyto capture them, as their power of leaping is so marvelousthat they seem to disappear most mysteriously, the eye notbeing able to follow them in the air.

The sub-family Myrmecophilinse is represented by asingle genus in Minnesota .

GENUS Myrmecophila Latreille.

Besides the characters already given in the table thisgenus is distinguished by the absence of compound eyes;ocelli present; hind femora ovate; hind tibiae dilated, withonly three or four apical spurs.

Fig. 169 .—Myrmecophila nebrasctnsis. Original.

No doubt a number of species occur in our state. Theinsects are found only in the nests of ants, and consequentlyare not readily observed. Yet a number have been seenwhen searching for other insects in such nests. When movingabout quietly the insects resemble very closely young cock-roaches, also found in similar surroundings, but as soon asdisturbed they prove the usefulness of the tremendousmuscles located in their swollen hind femora. Males areexceedingly rare, in fact unknown in the European species.Myrmecophila nebrascensis Brun., is shown in fig. 169.

The sub-family Gryllinse contains two genera in Minne­ sota .

W&.