PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



MUSICAL CRICKETS AND LOCUSTS IN NORTH 



GEORGIA. 



[Orthoptera, Gryllida- and Locustida-.] 

 BY H. A. ALLARD. 



4 



(Plate IV.) 



Birds, as a class, are true vocalists; insects, on the other 

 hand, are, without exception instrumental musicians. The 

 latter, as a rule, produce their notes or songs, popularly so- 

 called, by some combination of leg or wing movement. The 

 more musical trillers, as the crickets of the genera Gryllus, 

 Nemobius, and Oecanthus, make use of thin, glassy, highly 

 specialized wing surfaces furnished with definite smooth areas 

 and serrate ridges. During the singing act these wing surfaces 

 are moved rapidly on each other, producing the familiar strident 

 trillings of midsummer. Among the birds the males usually 

 possess the powers of song. Likewise the males alone, among 

 the insects are capable of furnishing the distinctive notes of 

 the species. Incidentally, the human ear may catch these 

 varied trillings, and the responsive mind is awakened to tender 

 emotions; yet the sole functions of these musical expres- 

 sions of different insects are' mainly concerned with the mating 

 activities of the creatures which produce them. 



In comparison with birds and bird songs, insect music is lit- 

 tle appreciated or understood. Diminutive, shy, and often- 

 times exclusively tree-dwellers, the presence of many of our 

 musical insects is seldom evident except by their notes. In 

 truth, a carefully trained ear and mind are almost indispensa- 

 ble to enable one to detect and discriminate readily from the 

 general insect medley any particular species of musician. It 

 is not unusual to find persons whose auditory mechanism is 

 quite incapable of recording the exceedingly high-pitched notes 

 of some insects. In other words, the notes do not exist for 

 them; they are deaf to any sounds beyond a certain pitch. 



As with many bird notes and bird songs, much of the charm 

 and pleasure to be gotten from insect music depends upon the 

 emotional coloring associated with it. We are enraptured 

 with the notes of the first peewee, or the early piping of the 

 frogs, not because of any intrinsic sweetness in the notes them- 

 selves, but because of endearing memories of many spring- 

 times. They are always the harbingers of a new springtime, 

 and their plaintive notes add to our minds an emotional warmth 

 and sunshine that no other notes can afford. 



