New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 491 



SONG. 



The song is a shrill continuous whistle, whirr-r-r-r-r, which may con- 

 tinue for a period of several minutes. In quality it most resembles 

 the sound ol a small tin whistle. The pitch on an average summer 

 evening is F#, two octaves above middle C. On a very cool night 

 the pitch drops a little and the sound becomes much fainter and is 

 not nearly so easily detected as the clear notes of niveus. 



The song of nigricornis can easily be distinguished from the two 

 preceding species, niveus and angustipennis, by its continuous note; 

 the others having an intermittent sound. However, another com- 

 mon species not included in this article, quadripunctatus, has a song 

 so closely resembling that of nigricornis that the two sounds are 

 difficult to distinguish, even by one well acquainted with them. 

 On the average the song of the former is fainter, less shrill and of 

 a more rasping quality. Nigricornis can usually be heard in the 

 vicinity of berry patches and tall weeds during the daytime as well 

 as at night. In the morning only an occasional individual engages 

 itself in singing, but in the afternoon more of the insects participate, 

 and by evening the chorus appears in its greatest numbers and 

 continues in full force throughout the night. 



mating habits. 



The mating of nigricornis may begin before dark and pairs of 

 the insects can generally be observed late in the afternoon clinging 

 to the stalk of some tall weed or hiding on the undersides of the 

 leaves. The female feeds eagerly at the thoracic gland of the male 

 and, as is the case with the preceding species, he attaches the sper- 

 matophore at the base of her ovipositor. Judging from Hancock's 1 

 account and from our own observations the performance of this 

 function is carried out in all the details as has been described for 

 the snowy tree cricket. 



OVIPOSITION HABITS. 



In preparing for oviposition the female usually selects a position 

 on the bark which is well above ground, the height depending largely 

 on the diameter of the stalk and the kind of plant. In grape vines 

 and certain weeds, stems not more than five millimeters in diameter 



1 J. L. Hancock. Amer. Nat. Jan., 1905. and Nature Sketches, pp. 383-384. 1911. 



