LESSON XX.
A QUEER CRICKET.
When you are out in the woods, you may find a very small, brown cricket, in the moist places at the roots of trees. That is the wood cricket.
The most curious of all the crickets is the mole cricket. The mole cricket is the stoutest and largest of all the cricket family. He takes his name from the little furry, mouse-like animal that burrows in the ground,—the mole.
The mole cricket is something like the mole in shape, and in the shape of its front feet. It is very like the mole in its ways.
Mole crickets in the larva and pupa state are like their parents in looks and habits. They lack only the wings. The wings of mole crickets are short. They open and close them at each stroke when they fly. This makes them fly with a wave-like motion. Now they go up, now they drop down.
A HAPPY FAMILY.
A HAPPY FAMILY.
The mole cricket sings only at night. It does not make such loud music as the field cricket.
The most curious thing about the mole cricket is its front feet. They are broad and short, and have toes. They look like a mole’s front feet. They also look like the glove, or hand part, of a little suit of armor.
These hands are made for digging. The mole cricket burrows along under the ground as a mole does. Have you seen the long, low ridge of earth the mole makes in field or garden? The mole cricket’s furrow is like that, only much smaller.
The mole cricket eats the roots of vegetables, as he goes along under ground. He is fond of peas, beans, and beets. He will eat the roots of flowers, also. He is a plague in a garden. He likes, also, to live near a stream or canal. He is very fond of damp places.
The mole cricket neither flies nor sings by day. If dug out of his burrow, he seems very stupid and helpless. At evening, he tries to comfort himself by a low, jarring song.
The mole cricket has a hard, shell-like body. Its legs also are horny. For this reason, one of its names is the “earth crab.” It is of a lighter color than the other crickets.
Mrs. Mole Cricket makes a very pretty nest. It is the size and shape of half an egg, cut lengthwise. It is put very near the surface of the ground. Then the rays of the sun can warm the eggs.
Mrs. Cricket makes her nest soft and smooth. Then she puts into it about one hundred eggs. The eggs are in a tough skin, not a shell. They areof a gray-yellow color. The earth above the nest often looks like an ant-hill.
Mrs. Cricket does not cease her care for her eggs, when they are put into the nest. There are some kinds of beetles that eat these eggs. Mrs. Cricket digs round and round her nest a network of halls. She hopes the beetle will get lost when he comes to look for her eggs.
After the eggs are laid, and the halls are all made, what do you think Mrs. Cricket does? She sits in one of her halls. She listens for Mr. Beetle or any other enemy. When he comes, she runs out to attack him. She fights so bravely that she drives him away.
At night, when the mole cricket is flying about, its body sometimes shines like fire. You know the firefly shines. But the firefly gives forth its light in flashes. The glow-worm has a steady light.
The mole cricket does not always shine. But some have been found to do so. People who have seen these big, bright things flying in the dark, have been so foolish as to get frightened.
I hope if you think of being afraid at any time, you will first make sure what it is that you are afraid of. The mole cricket is nothing to fear, even when he shines.
I think the reason that his body has been found to shine sometimes is this. He spends his time digging among dead wood and leaves. Sometimes he digs about dead animals.
Now, no doubt, there are times when in this work his body gets covered with a fire-shining stuff,[18]that comes among dead things. Then when he comes, fresh from his work, his body glows, and he shines as he flies. After a little, the shining matter wears off, and he shines no more.
FOOTNOTES:[18]The teacher might give examples of phosphorescent light.
[18]The teacher might give examples of phosphorescent light.
[18]The teacher might give examples of phosphorescent light.