11 9
CRICKET-FIGHT ING BY I. H. BURK1LL, M. A., F. L. 8. In 1927 Dr. B. Laufer published a yery interesting account of cricket-kPeping· and cricket -fighting in China (Insect :M usicians and Cricket Champions o£ China, Leaflet No. 22 of the Field Museum of Na.tmal H istory, Ch icago). At the time of ·writing he was not aware that t he Sia,mese, .Ma.layR and Javanese a.muRe themseh·es si milai·ly in rnatching these insects in battle. Cn1\·vfmd in his History of the Indian Archipelago, 1, 1820, p. 114, meutions crick et -keeping·, and Augusta de \Vit in her' Java Facts and Fa nci es, · 1905, p. 129, has given Rome information r egarding the pastime in .Jam, where it is officially forbidden along wit h cock-fig hting, on account of the a.ccompanying betting, but carried on in a secret 'my. The Chinese, according to Laufer, use all the follow ing species of crickets :- GnmpsoclPis inftata, Uvarm', G1·y U~u s consper.n&s, Schaum. Gnmp.socle·is gratiosa, subsp. Gryll~u s n1-itrntus, Burmeister, G. in {'nsca ta , U varov, Loxoblemmus taico'l.&n, Saussure, O ccanthn .~ 7'nfPscPns Sen'ill e Ho rnoeogrylllLS jcLpowicus, Haan. The Sialllese make use of Liog?·yllns b i ma c'I. Llat~Ls, DeGreer anrl Gryll1us confirmahus, ·walker. The M11 ln.ys use B?ortc hyi?·ypes 1Jorien tosn s, Licht. and the .Javanese a Liorryllus. Th e nules of o\·ery ono of theRe insects, except the Hom.oeo .fJ?'.l)llns, fight a.t sight : but t he Homoeog?·ylln.s needs that a female shonl rl be present. Cricket-fighting is much more of a sport ~~mong the Chinese than among the Siamese n.nd .J11vn.nese. Among the Malays it is onl y n. boys' am usement, with insects caught ·when wanted. The Ch·inese, Siamese and .Javanese cage, match and bet on t heir chn.1npions: a nd the Chinese go yet further, for they breed them. In breeding, sm plus males and all the females are used as food fo r cage-bir-ds. The :feeding of champions is done 1vith great care. Dr. Laufer and Mrs. de Wit have described it. In Siam, where the cage is a bakr:-rl cby cup closed hy means of thin strips of bamboo, one being 120 remomblc thttt the cn,ptin ; may be fed an cl taken out, the food con "ist,s of fresl1 lea.vc.'l nf the spinach .!hnl(.?''tntlm.s 8pino.~n8 , Linn. :cnrl. th e g~: :t ss, Cy IWtlon clncfylrm, Pers. The Si:ctn cse say that t i lt~ i nsccts li \'l) in ca.pti vity foe a, mont h or two. G1"yllns confi?" mutu.s, they c:cll :1i-et ( Blu m)WJ ) aml r egard as t he better tigl1 tee, t houg h !.h e sma.ll e1· , Liog1· ylln.~ bimr t c?~l.c t./ n.~, t hey call ed eh:.m_grit ( ~SN~ ). Tl w JVh l:1ys of the s011th o[ t he Pcninsnl:c use t he word cheng kerck ( o1· soltl etimes chengkeret) for Bruc J,yi1"!Jl?1'8 but the ~- I a b ys of K c1hth ns1) keridok. 'l'lw Jtwanose use chang·kri k aml :L ng· krek. The " ·o r1l s ckw g ri t, e h enkr~ r e t and changkrit a.re ob,·ionsly \ ' ~L r i :c n ts of one co mm on to t he bngnn,gcs of t he t hree peopl es, t he e11ni\·:1lent of " cricket" and onon1atopoeic; and it may he snggeRterl t hat t he Siamese borrowed their wmd .from the ?lhlays. JE so, di1l t l1ey adopt ce .i cket-fig·hting n,t t he sanw tim e? The Ri:.un ese L io.rJ ?' yllt~ s has been identified by ]k B. U vanl\', t he 8 ianl cfle G1·yll1~8 by Dr. L. C hoparcl , and the Malayn.ll li?·uchyi?'!JP Pg by Mr. Il. J\ L P cn(llebm y. To t heRe