124 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



but they generally raise their wing-covers much higher than other 

 crickets do while they are playing. These wing-covers, in the 

 males, are also very large, and as long as the wings ; they are ex- 

 ceedingly thin, and perfectly transparent, and have the horizontal 

 portion divided into four unequal parts by three oblique raised 

 lines, two of which are parallel and form an angle with the anterior 

 line. The antennae and legs are both very long and slender, the 

 hinder thighs being much smaller in proportion than those of other 

 crickets, and the hindmost feet have four instead of three joints. 

 The two bristle-formed appendages at the end of the body are as 

 long as the piercer, and the latter is only about half the length of 

 the body, while, in the ground-crickets, the piercer is usually 

 as long as the body or longer. These insects have, therefore, 

 been separated from the other crickets under the generical name 

 of CEcanthus, a word which means inhabiting flowers. They 

 may be called climbing-crickets, from their habit of mounting upon 

 plants and dwelling among the leaves and flowers. According to 

 M. Salvi* the female makes several perforations in the tender 

 stems of plants, and in each perforation thrusts two eggs quite to 

 the pith. The eggs are hatched about midsummer, and the young 

 immediately issue from their nests and conceal themselves among 

 the thickest foliage of the plant. When arrived at maturity the 

 males begin their nocturnal serenade at the approach of twilight, 

 and continue it, with little or no intermission till the dawn of day. 

 Should one of these little musicians get admission to the chamber, 

 his incessant and loud shrilling will effectually banish sleep. Of 

 three species which inhabit the United States, one only is found 

 in Massachusetts. It is the Q^canthus niveus, or white climbing- 

 cricket. The male is ivory-white, with the upper side of the first 

 joint of the antennas, and the head between the eyes, of an ochre- 

 yellow color ; there is a minute black dot on the under-sides of 

 the first and second joints of the antennae ; and, in some individu- 

 als, the extremities of the feet, and the under-sides of the hind- 

 most thighs, are ochre-yellow. The body is about half an inch 

 long, exclusive of the wing-covers. The female is usually rather 

 longer, but the wing-covers are much narrower than those of the 



* Memorie intorno le Locuste grillajole. tivo. Verona : I7o0. 



