Abstract
ONLY one British species of mole cricket is known, Gryllotalpa vulgaris. It is now becoming very rare in England. It is largely carnivorous, and by burrowing underground with its powerful fore-legs, which by a shear-like action cut through roots, it causes a certain amount of damage. It is by the peculiar structure of these fore-legs that the mole cricket is readily recognised and distinguished from all other insects. These legs are thicker, but shorter, than the hind-legs, each of the very short tibbæ ending below in four claws spread out like the fingers of a hand. The specimen represented in the illustration was caught at Send, near Woking, in Surrey, on March 15 last.
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D., F. The Mole Cricket. Nature 105, 294 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105294c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105294c0
