544 FAMILY VII. TETTIGONIIDJE. THE KATYDIDS. 



In Ontario Walker (1905, 34) found vulgarc "'the only species 

 of OivJieliiiiuni distributed generally over a large part of the 

 province. It becomes gradually scarcer to the north of Lake Sim- 

 coe, and, I believe, does not range much farther north than Mus- 

 koka. Where found it is usually common in upland fields as well 

 ar low meadows and is fond of perching in clumps of tall grass. 

 It reaches maturity in this latitude towards the end of July and 

 lasts until about the beginning of October." 



Scudder set the call note of the male of 0. vulyarc to scale and 

 (1893, 73) wrote of it as follows: 



"When about to sing on a hot, sunny clay, the male mounts a stalk of 

 grass to about a foot from the ground where it clings with its four front 

 legs, allowing its hind legs to dangle on either side of the stalk that, they 

 may not interfere with the movements of the tegmina. Beginning with 

 ts it changes almost instantly to a trill of zr ; at first there is a crescendo 

 movement which reaches its volume in half a second; the trill is then sus- 

 tained for a period varying from one to twenty seconds (generally from six 

 to eight seconds), and closes abruptly with p. This strain is followed by 

 a series of very short staccato notes sounding like jip, jip, jip, repeated at 

 half second intervals; the staccato notes and the trill alternate ad libitum. 

 The staccato notes may be continued almost indefinitely, but are very 

 rarely heard more than ten times in direct succession; they ordinarily oc- 

 cur three or four times before the repetition of the phrase, but not more 

 than two or three times when the phrase is not repeated. The night song 

 differs from that of the day in the rarer occurrence of the intermediate 

 notes and the less rapid trill of the phrase; the pitch of both is at B flat." 



Hancock (1904) has given an excellent description of the egg- 

 laying habits of 0. vulgare (glaberrimum) in captivity, from 

 which I quote as follows : 



"On the 6th of September a female was noticed exhibiting rather rest- 

 less actions among the loosely spread stems of one of 'the boquets of flow- 

 ers, and soon after I found her ovipositing in a stem of the bur marigold. 

 Before selecting the marigold as the proper plant for her immediate needs, 

 she tested a number of different kinds of plants by biting the stems. 

 When at last the coveted stem was found, she started very vigorously bit- 

 ing, moving her head from side to side in an endeavor to get a stronger 

 hold with her jaws. A gash into the outer layer of the stem was soon 

 made, about an eighth of an inch in length, the insect finally going back 

 over the course of the incision with the evident purpose of more deeply 

 penetrating to the pith. During this first stage in the process the female 

 stood with her head directed downwards, but as soon as the spot was pre- 

 pared with the mouth she reversed her body preparatory to the act of 

 oviposition. Firmly grasping the plant stem with her feet she curved the 

 abdomen underneath, at the same time bringing the pointed extremity of 

 the ovipositor into the breach made in the stem. Now she stood with her 

 ovipositor under the abdomen with the blades slightly imbedded, but grad- 



