X. On the anatomy of the mole-cricket

Abstract

The following observations contain the principal points of a laborious examination of the anatomical structure of the gryllotalpa, or mole-cricket; and if I dare hope that that examination has been conducted with any thing like adequate accuracy, I need not apologize for the length of the details with which the account of it is accompanied, since Cuvier has affirmed of an entire volume written by Lyonnet on the anatomy of a single species of caterpillar, that it contains not one word that is useless. Natural science indeed has now arrived at that point, in which individual detail is requisite for the acquisition not only of a surer basis of classification of species, but also of more correct principles of general physiology. Independently however of these considerations, the insect, which is the subject of the present communication, is so singular in its structure and habits, and is in some parts of the world so formidable to the agriculturist, as to render its history pecu­liarly interesting.