8
PLATE CXLVIL
It is scarcely possible to find a more singular creature thanthe Mole Cricket. It lives in burrows which it forms about aninch or more below the surface of the ground. The femaledeposits a large bed of eggs about the size of small pease, rather ofan oval forffi, and brownish colour. They are laid in a circularcavity, which is two or three inches wide, and near an inch inheight. An aperture is made on one side, with an easy ascent to thesurface of the ground, and is ingeniously covered at the top withloose earth. When the young larvae are first hatched, they scarcelyexceed the twelfth of an inch in length. They ascend through theopening, and subsist on the plants nearest their habitation, till theirfore claws have acquired sufficient strength to burrow into the earth.In the larva state they nearly equal the perfect Insect in size, andresemble it in every respect, except that they have no wings. Theshells appear first; this is the pupa state, and shortly after the mem-braneous wings appear also. It makes very little use of its wings,as they are too weak to support its body long; and indeed it has notmuch occasion for them, as it lives in the fame manner as the Mole,and, like it, is furnished with powerful claws, with which it canburrow through the ground to a very considerable distance.
This destructive creature is generally found in great numberswherever they once deposit their eggs; for it is impossible to pursueand destroy them without doing much injury to the ground theyinfest. If they find a way into a kitchen-garden, they sometimesdestroy whole beds of young plants in the space of one night; andthis is not astonishing, when we consider that they seldom eat anypart except the roots, which they nip very close, and consequentlythe other parts must perish. They seem particularly fond of Let-tuces.