A reader in the Dordogne has asked me about the habits of the monstrous insect illustrated here. At nearly six centimetres long it is fearsome enough to scare any gardener. In a garden with a fertile soft moist soil it will burrow just below the surface and chew through the stems and roots of any succulent plant. There is some doubt about whether it is destroying the plants for food or whether they are just in the way of its energetic search for maggots and worms which appear to be its main diet. One of my more antique books says 'it has been known to feed upon raw beef with zest'. This creature was once fairly widespread in England. In the eighteenth century it was found from Hampshire to Yorkshire. But it is now so close to extinction that it is one of the dozen or so insects expressly protected by law. In England, even to possess a specimen could generate a fine of £1000. My correspondent in France tells me that his neighbour took his specimen and destroyed it as a pest.
The mole-cricket is in French a 'grillon'. The French word criquet is I fear one of those faux-amis amongst words. The English translation of that is grasshopper. Grasshoppers are recognised by their short antennae. On the other hand the English term - cricket - signifies in French either the sauterelles or the grillons. They all have very long antennae. And to distinguish between these latter two groups you must look at the way the body is shaped. The sauterelles (and the criquets) have bodies flattened sideways and the grillons are flattened from the top.
The mole-cricket has enormously developed front legs and can rapidly dig large holes mostly at the surface but can dig a metre down. The body is rather furry. The first pair of wings are short and useless, the second well capable for flight. These when folded project to the rear in the form of two spines. The males make a continuous loud churring noise by rubbing one on the other, which they can do alternately one wing over the other. The female makes a chamber just below the surface and in it lays several hundred eggs which she nurtures by licking them. This is believed to prevent mould attacking the eggs. The young can take up to three years to become adult. Writing in 1779, Gilbert White, says of specimens found in Hampshire, "Anatomists astonish me with their accounts; for they say that from the structure, position and number of their stomachs, there seems to be good reason to suppose that they chew the cud like many quadrupeds".
A recent French book says (my translation) 'Where it frequents gardens ..it is the object of a desperate struggle which has brought about its eradication in many regions'.
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