OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XII, lull I. 



The crickets and katydids, too, gladden aud inspire us with 

 their music iu proportion as their notes have become associ- 

 ated in our minds with the coloring of past memories. To me, 

 for this reason, the notes of the snowy tree-crickets (Oca/u- 

 ttius niveus and Oecantkus angustipennis) have an inexpressi- 

 ble charm and sweetness. They recall to mind impressions of 

 childhood life on an old New England homestead, where 

 flourished luxuriant hedges of goldenrods and asters; of 

 dreamy, dewy August evenings. In New England I am just 

 as glad to hear the first tree-cricket in August as I am to hear 

 the first bluebird or piping frog of spring. At a certain time 

 in August I expect almost unconsciously to hear it; every- 

 thing seems prepared for and awaiting the first enlivening note 

 of a tree-cricket in the goldenrods or raspberry hedges. 



In one country, Japan, it appears that a real appreciation of 

 the charms of insect music exists. We learn through that 

 strange genius, Lafcadio Hearn, that the Japanese mind loves 

 and appreciates its insect musicians; that ages ago, while the 

 Beowulf was slowly shaping itself in the minds of Saxon bards, 

 the Japanese made long pilgrimages into the country to hear 

 and to capture certain kinds of musical crickets and katydids. 



For several years I have made a careful study of the song 

 habits of the musical Orthoptera in New England, North Caro- 

 lina, and northern Georgia. During the years 1908 and 1909 

 I spent a greater portion of the summer in an isolated settle- 

 ment known as Thompson's Mills, in northern Georgia. Much 

 of this time would have been dreary and burdensome had it 

 not been for the fact that I found interest and consolation in 

 the musical insects of this locality. Hosts of rare or familiar 

 crickets, locusts, and katydids enlivened the days and evenings 

 from every hedge and tree throughout the summer. A num- 

 ber of these have never been reported from Georgia or the 

 South, and their songs have never before been noted and de- 

 scribed. It is hoped that the following sketch of some of the 

 musical Orthoptera observed in North Georgia, together with 

 illustrations, will prove of some interest. 



Of the Orchelimnms, I have observed the following at 

 Thompson's Mills: ( trr/ic/iiinmi rv//v^r, O. glabcrrhuiun (>. 

 Ioiiipcn>ic, O. minor, O. mo/os^/nii , and <). nigripcs. 



Orchelimum rnlgurc Harris (fig. 1) is the first to appear, 

 and seems to be the most common form. It is, like the other 

 Orchelimums, mostly a dav singer, and is most noisy during 

 the hottest sunnv hours. Like most Orchelimums, this species 

 prefers the tall grasses and weeds of the fields and roadsides 



