CRICKET. -Achetadce. Crickets belong to the jumpers, which include crickets, grasshop pers and locusts. They are by far the most prolific and most destructive of orthopterous insects. There are a number of varieties, of which the common black cricket (Acheta abbre viata) is the most abundant. Like the locust, scarcely anything in the way of herbage, seems to come amiss. They are also destructive to many dry substances, as woolen or cotton clothes, left in the open air during the season of their feeding, especially in the fall One of the most curious of the genus is the Mole cricket (Gryllo tak.a). Its short fore legs are admirably adapted to burrowing, and hence they are seldom seen. Crickets may he poisoned by laying, in their way, grated carrots or potatoes mixed with a small quantity of arsenic; but it is not feasible, since when scarce they do comparatively little harm, and when they swarm in countless numbers this means is not practical. Hogs are fond of them, and hunt them assidiously. Crickets eat such insects as they can master. They lay numerous eggs, which they deposit in the ground by means of their ovipositor. At the approach of cold weather the greater part of them die, but a few hybernate, sheltering themselves beneath stones, or other places secure from water and the in clemency of the winter. The American crickets, unlike the European species, do not make their homes in houses. Those found in living rooms are chance individuals which have wandered there. The large wingless crickets, or grass hoppers (Anabrus simplex, etc.) generally live on the ground, or on low growing plants; some are found in caves or under stones, while others are found on wild grasses and herbage. Some spe cies are found in immense numbers on the western plains, where they feed upon weeds or any green plant that may occur in their vicinity. In the Eastern States many species inhabit woods or dark, damp places and, if disturbed, hide under stones or rubbish ; they are, however, at present not known to destroy the crops to any considerable extent; and if they do, Ale same remedies may be applied as above. The field
crickets of Europe form burrows in the ground in which they live, and are said to be very vora cious, and even cannibal in tbeir propensities, killing and devouring their own species whenever they can overcome them. The crickets in this country injure grass, melons, squashes, potatoes, and other roots and fruits. The eggs of field crickets are deposited in the autumn in the earth, and hatch the following season, some of the old insects surviving throughout the winter under stones, dead fallen trunks of trees, etc. To destroy house-crickets, vials half filled with beer, milk, or any liquid will attract and drown them. A deep, glazed earthenware jar, having a little food,such as boiled potato or sliced cucuna ber in it, will serve as a trap for crickets, for when once in, they are unable to jump out again. Pills made of arsenic or Paris green and flour, or these/ poisons mixed' with grated carrots or mashed potatoes, will poison them; but if such deadly poisons are ever used, great care should be taken that the dead insects do not fall into any of the domestic kitchen utensils, nor should they be swept where domestic fowls can find and eat them. If field-crickets are very numerous and annoying, many of the same remedies, recommended for grasshoppers, such as plowing up the earth and exposing it to the winter's frost or rains, or rolling the ground very early in the morning, will be of utility; but fowls, turkeys, and insectivorous birds are of inestimable value in destroying such insects as are found around gardens and houses, if they can only be kept out of the gardens themselves. Toads should never be killed in gardens, as they feed entirely, on insects, and are entirely harmless to man, how ever the prejudice to the contrary.