Insect Study 



377 



The middle foot 



THE SNOWY TREE-CRICKET 

 Teacher's Story 



HIS is a slim, ghost-like cricket. It is pale green, 

 almost white in color, and about three-fourths of an 

 inch long. Its long, slender hind legs show that it is 

 a good jumper. Its long antennas, living threads, 

 pale gray in color, join the head with amber globe-like 

 segments. The pale eyes have a darker center and 

 the palpi are very long. The male has the wing- 

 covers shaped and veined like those of the black 

 cricket, but they are not so broad and are whitish and 

 very delicate. The wings beneath are wide, for these 



crickets can fly. The female has a long, sword-like ovipositor. 



The snowy tree-cricket, like its relatives, spends much time at its 



toilet. It whips the front foot over an antenna and brings the base of the 



latter to the mandibles with the palpi and then cleans it carefully to the 



very tip. It washes its face with the front foot, always with a downward 



movement. If the hind foot becomes entangled in anything its first tries 



to kick it clean, and then drawing it beneath the body, bends the head so 



as to reach it with the mandibles and nibbles it clean 



it also thrusts beneath the body, bringing it forward 



between the front legs for cleaning. But when 



cleaning its front feet, the snowy tree-cricket puts on 



airs; it lifts the elbow high and draws the foot 



through the mouth with a gesture very like that of a 



young lady with a seal ring on her little ringer, hold- 



ing the ornate member out from its companions as if 



it were stiff with a consciousness of its own import- 



ance. 



There are two common species of the snowy tree- 



crickets which can hardly be separated except by 



specialists or by watching their habits. One is 



called "the whistler" and lives on low shrubs or 



grass; it gives a clear, soft, prolonged, unbroken 



note. The other is called "the fiddler" and lives on 



shrubs and in trees and vines. Its note is a pianis- 



simo performance of the katydid's song ; it is delight- 



ful, rhythmic and sleep-inspiring ; it begins in the late 



afternoon and continues all night until the early, 



cold hours of the approaching dawn. The vivacity 



of the music depends upon the temperature, as the 



notes are given much more rapidly during the hot 



nights. 



"So far as we know, this snowy tree-cricket is the 



only one of the insect musicians that seems conscious 



of the fact that he belongs to an orchestra If you E $&? 



v o t, -11 1 cricket, Laid 



hsten on a September evening, you will hear the first f, err 



player begin; soon another will join, but not in After c. v. Riiey. 

 harmony at first. For some time there may be a 



see-saw of accented and unaccented notes; but after a while the two will 

 be in unison ; perhaps not, however, until many more players have joined 



iree ~ 

 in rasp- 



cane . 



