1867.] 309 [Scudder, 



A few days ago I observed one of these insects singing to its mate. 

 At first the song was mild and frequently broken; afterward it gi'ew 

 impetuous, forcible and more prolonged; then it decreased in vol- 

 ume and extent till it became quite soft and feeble. At this point 

 the male began to approach the female, uttering a series of twittering 

 chirps ; the female ran away, and the male, after a short chase, re- 

 turned to his old haunt, singing with the same vigor as before, but 

 with more frequent pauses: at last, finding all persuasion unavailing, 

 he brought his serenade to a close. The pauses of his song Avere 

 almost instantly followed by a peculiar jerk of the body; it consisted 

 of an impulsive }novement backward, and then, as suddenly, forward, 

 and was accompanied by a corresponding movement of the antennje, 

 together and then apart. The female was near enough to be touched 

 by the antenna; of the male during the first movement, and usually 

 started in a nearly similar way as soon as touched. 



The elytra of the male are held at an angle of about twenty de- 

 grees from the body during stridulation, and, perhaps, at a slightly 

 greater angle from each other. Even when most violent, the sound 

 is produced by the friction of the inner edges of the elytra only, not 

 by the whole surface; much smaller surfaces arc brought together 

 than is the case with the Locuskirkc. 



In September and October, the (EcfuUJtux niveus, or white climbing 

 cricket, may be found, often in large numbers, on the leaves of low 

 trees and bushes. Its song lasts from one and a half to three seconds 

 and consists of a sustained, equable, attenuated, creaking roll. I 

 have only listened to the insect in captivity, vi^hen its utterance was 

 faint, but Dr. Harris states that complaints are often made of the 

 piercing shrillness of its cry. 



I am familiar with but few songs of the Locustarue ; at the White 

 Mountains two species — Phaneroptera curvicauda and Orchelimum 

 vulgare — appear about the last of July. The latter shrills equally by 

 night and day; the former is more noisy by night. In Phaneroptera 

 the day and night songs differ very much; the day song is given only 

 during sunshine, the other by night and in cloudy weather. I first 

 noticed this wliile watching one of these little creatures close beside 

 me ; as a cloud passed over the sky he suddenly changed his note to 

 one with which I was already familiar, but without knowing to what 

 insect it belonged. At the same time, all the individuals around me 

 whose similar day song I had heard began to respond with the night 

 cry; the cloud passed away, and the original note was resumed on all 

 sides. Judging that they preferred the night song to that of the day 

 from their increased stridulation during the former period, I imitated 

 the night song during sunshine, and obtained an immediate response 



