314 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



suspect that it might function, and that female Gryllotalpa 

 might chirp. As far as I have been able to read the literature 

 no one has observed that they actually do so. Most of our 

 books say that only the males stridulate. LaCordiare (12) says, 

 "The chirping organs of the crickets are simple and limited to 

 the males." Scudder, speaking of the crickets, says, "his 

 egotistic love song." Comstock (7) writes, "the males of the 

 crickets have musical organs." Lang (13) says: "In the Lo- 

 custidse and Gryllidas only the males stridulate, by rubbing the 

 rough basal portions of their wing cases against each other." 

 Packard (15), after speaking of the organs in the males, says : 

 "The females are not invariably dumb, both sexes of the Eu- 

 ropean Ephippigera being able to faintly stridulate." Henne- 

 guy (11), in speaking of the musical organs, writes: "Where 

 they are found they are well developed in the males only; in 

 the females they are more or less rudimentary. Such is the 

 case in the Gryllidse." Barrett (1) describes the stridulating 

 organ in the male "Changa" or Porto Rican mole cricket, 

 Scapteriscus didactylus; but he has completely overlooked the 

 same but less well developed organ in the female. 



The female mole cricket has quite a loud and distinct chirp. 

 It usually consists of a single note; but there may be several 

 at short intervals. This note is less shrill than the ordinary 

 call of the male. However, the male has a note very similar to 

 that of the female which it uses for the same purposes, namely, 

 as a means of recognition in the dark burrows. The call is al- 

 ways given when one individual is approaching another, es- 

 pecially when digging a new tunnel. Both genera, Gryllotalpa 

 and Scapteriscus, have the stridulating organ on the female 

 elytra, and so both must be able to chirp. I never isolated a 

 Porto Rican female to hear its chirp, but after hearing the call 

 of our native cricket I feel sure that I have heard the insular 

 female's chirp also. 



This unusual ability possessed by the female is an adaptation 

 to life in underground burrows. It enables the individuals to 

 recognize others which are approaching under conditions where 

 sight cannot be used. Thus enemies and friends can be dis- 

 tinguished; while if the female were dumb, as she is in all 

 other crickets as far as I know, they might often attack even 

 their mates. "^ 



