Vol. xxiii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 461 



In New England, with the appearance of frosty evenings 

 in late autumn, the intermittent stridulations of the snowy 

 tree cricket Oecanthus niveus DeG. become painfully slow 

 and faint as compared with the usually brisk, emphatic stridu- 

 lations of this species during hot midsummer nights. Not- 

 withstanding this response in the notes of insects to changing 

 weather conditions, the characteristic habit of stridulation of 

 any species is not sufficiently changed to make its identification 

 uncertain. However unfavorable the conditions may be, 

 Oecanthus niveus does not forsake its intermittent trilling 

 habit, nor does the prolonged trill of Oecanthus latipennis be- 

 come interrupted or in any way intermittent. 



Among the species of musical Orthoptera covering a wide 

 range of distribution it would be rather anomalous not to find 

 in some instances more or less marked local peculiarities of 

 stridulation and habit. Differences in the manner of stridu- 

 lation distinguishing groups of the same species have been 

 rarely reported. Concerning Gryllus pennsylvanicus Burm., 

 one of the commonest and most widely distributed field crick- 

 ets in North America, the writer has reported two extremely 

 unlike habits of stridulation, differentiating New England 

 from the most southern forms.* In New England the note is 

 a distinct, intermittent chirp. In the Piedmont region of 

 northern Georgia the note is a weak prolonged trill very 

 much like the trill of Oecanthus quadripunctatus Beut. The 

 writer has likewise noted rather distinct methods of stridula- 

 tion for different colonies of Nemobius fasciatus var. vittatus 

 DeG. at Oxford, Mass.f It is probable that more thorough in- 

 vestigation will reveal peculiarities in the stridulations of local 

 groups of other species. 



The usual method of stridulation of a species is sometimes 

 noticeably changed, apparently at the will of the musician. 

 The category of volitional modifications includes changes of 



*"Musical Crickets and Locusts in North Georgia," Proceedings of 

 the Entomological Society of Washington, Vol. XII, 1910. 



f'Some New England Orthopters observed in late October," in 

 Entomological News, Vol. XXI, 1910. 



