The Mole Cricket. Gryllotalpa vulgaris. Latr.

Fig. X.

4. Perfect insect; 1, eggs; 2, larva when first hatched; 3, larva after first moult.

This is the largest insect common to Great Britain, and though it cannot be said to be very destructive to farm crops, it lives entirely upon roots and stems under the ground, and devours indiscriminately those both of cultivated and wild plants. It is abundant in some districts, preferring sandy and peaty soils. Notes have been sent as to injury caused to pasture land in Bedfordshire and in Ireland. This was at first attributed to the larvæ of the Daddy Long-legs, Tipula oleracea, but on further inquiry it was proved that the mole crickets were the offenders. The roots of the grasses had evidently been bitten through and through, and the most succulent parts eaten, and the ground was strewn with dying and dead herbage in patches here and there.

Again, an observer noticed that wheat plants had been attacked in a light loamy soil in Kent, as he said, in a manner different from any attacks he had noticed before. Upon careful search he discovered mole crickets. Injuries to peas and beans have been traced to these insects, for they were seen emerging from the ground in pea and bean fields for their summer life. Kirby page 39 and Spence speak of them as troublesome to cultivators.^* Köllar states that they do a deal of damage to young corn in Germany, and in France they are much dreaded by farmers and gardeners.