38 . PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



National Museum collections from Dallas and Columbus, Tex- 

 as, and Cedar Keys, Florida, it has never been reported from 

 Georgia, and its range is given from New York to Kentucky. 



tEcaiit/nis uireiis DeGeer: This beautiful tree cricket also 

 occurs throughout north Georgia, but has never appeared very 

 common at Thompson's Mills. In 190S I did not note a single 

 specimen. L,ate in September, 1909, I heard and captured 

 several solitary individuals on low oaks in woods by the road- 

 side. Higher up in the mountains I heard this insect in con- 

 siderable numbers in the woody undergrowth. (Ecanlhus 

 nii'cns conceals itself among weeds and shrubs only a few feet 

 from the ground, and sings almost entirely by night, or oc- 

 cassioually on cloudy days. Its slow, rhythmical trills, tr-r-r- 

 r-r-r tr-r-r-r-r-r, are very solemn and impressive, and seem 

 to accentuate the silence and solitude of the warm, summer 

 evenings. 



As the thrush class lead as songsters among the birds, so do 

 the tree-crickets rank ahead of most other insects in quality 

 of tone and harmony of their trilling- These creatures are all 

 fragile-bodied, with thin, glassy, transparent wings tinted 

 greenish or pearly, like the soft summer moonlight which 

 shines upon them. It is surprising that such attenuated 

 creatures can produce notes so strong and loud as (). latipen- 

 nis or O. iiivcus. Each species has its own distinctive song, 

 with a tone-quality, pitch, and delivery which makes its iden- 

 tification certain wherever heard. 



Another midsummer cricket which helps to enliven the warm 

 nights of the Thompson's Mills region is Xeoxabea btpunctata 

 De Geer (fig. 4). This beautiful insect at first sight appears 

 to be an *(Ecantht<s, but several characters place it in another 

 genus. Its color is light brown, with a pinkish tint, and the 

 inner wings are about twice as long as the tegmina. This 

 cricket prefers the dense leaf-canopy of grape-vines, and usually 

 begins to sing at nightfall. It is an intermittent triller, and 

 its low, deep, mellow trills, /r-r-r-r, continued only a few sec- 

 onds, are separated by short intervals. Its notes are deeper, 

 stronger, and richer than those of (Ecanthus angustipennis. 

 In tone quality they more nearly approach the song of (J-Ccaii- 

 thn$ latipennis. This cricket is not uncommon at the above 

 locality, but usually congregates in small communities wher- 

 ever conditions are favorable, generally in wild grape-vines by 

 the roadside or in low trees near dwellings. 



Another exceedingly common cricket at Thompson's Mills 

 and elsewhere in the Southern States is Orc/mris saltutot 



