Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/253

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ACHETIDÆ.
247

servation by the nature of its haunts, and the beautiful adaptation of its structure to its peculiar mode of life. Its history is to be found in almost every elementary work on insects, and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat it here.

The following is a delineation of its anterior leg, which may be regarded as one of the most perfect examples of a fossorial instrument to be found in this class of animals. The mole cricket is unknown in Scotland, and it is only in certain districts in the south of England that it is found in any quantity.

Many different species of Achetidæ occur in foreign countries, and several of them exhibit very remarkable forms. The male of Gryllus umbraculatus of Linnæus, a native of Spain and Portugal, is remarkable for a membranous prolongation of the forehead, which hangs down in the form of a veil. G. Pattersonii, as represented by Stoll, has a singular inflation in front of the head, and two long horns curved forwards, and placed before the eyes. The species which the same iconographer names G. Vorax, has an enormous head with large projecting mandibles, and antennæ little short of half-a-foot in length.

As an example of this curious and well known family, we have represented an interesting species, now figured for the first time.