152 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



snring her that he heard every word however soft 

 and low it fell, he says — 



" But never fear me, gentle one, nor waste a thought or tear ; 

 Lest I should whisper what I heard in any mortal ear ; 

 I only sport among the boughs, and like a spirit hid, 

 I think on what I saw and heard, and laugh out ' Katy-did.' 



I see among the leaves, here when evening Zephyrs sigh, 

 And those that listen to my voice, I love to mystify, 

 I never tell them all I know, altho' I'm often bid, 

 I laugh at curiosity, and chirrup ' Katy-did.' " 



The Katy-did is nearly one and a half inehes long, 

 and its wings when expanded are about three inches 

 wide. Its wings are of a pale green, and its wing- 

 covers of a dark green color, which however fades 

 away and becomes brown when the insect is dead and 

 dried. This change of color may be prevented, as I 

 have before mentioned in regard to the Gryllus Caro- 

 lina, by taking out its intestines immediately after 

 death, and filling the abdominal cavity with cotton* 

 which is easily done by making a longitudinal inci- 

 sion through the under part of the hind-body with a 

 sharp penknife. 



The wing- covers are interwoven with veins resem- 

 bling those of a leaf, and in the males, have a hard 

 glassy membrane at the base of each, which is shaped 

 somewhat like a human eye, and which being rubbed 

 together by the sawing-like motion of 1 heir wing-cov- 

 ers produces the sound peculiar to this insect. The 

 poor females are destitute of these musical organs, 



