Scudder.] 312 [October 23. 



Xiphidium makes a note very similar to tliat of Orchelimurn, but so 

 faint as to be barely perceptible, even close at hand. 



There is a species of Conocephalus (C. ensirjer) which is found all 

 over New England, but I have not heard its song. C. rohustus, how- 

 ever, which makes the southern sea beaches of New England resound 

 with its shrill, incessant din, could hardly fail to attract attention. It 

 is heard eqvially by night and day, and the resemblance of its song to 

 that of Cicada canicularis is quite striking. The note often lasts for 

 many minutes, and seems, at a distance, to be quite uniform ; on a 

 nearer approach, one can hear it swelling and decreasing in volume, 

 while there is a corresponding muscular movement from the front of 

 the abdomen backwards, two and a half times a second. This is 

 accompanied by a buzzing sound, quite audible near at hand; it re- 

 sembles the humming of a bee, or, as Mr. Sanborn has suggested to 

 me, the droning of a bagpipe. 



The Acrijdil stridulate only by day; of those genera which stridu- 

 late by rubliing the hind femora against the elytra, I am acquainted 

 with the notes of but two — Stenohothrus and Arcyptera. Tiie Sten- 

 obothri, when about to stridulate, place themselves in a nearly hori- 

 zontal position, with the head a little elevated; they then raise both 

 hind legs at once, and grating the thighs against the outer surface of 

 the elytra, produce notes which, in the different species, vary in rap- 

 idity, number and duration. The first one or two movements are 

 frequently noiseless or faint. S. curtipennis, abundant everywhere 

 in New England, produces notes in sunny weather at the rate of 

 about six a second, and continues them from one and a half to two 

 and a half seconds. When the sky is overcast, the movements are 

 less rapid. 



Note of Stenobothrus curtipennis. 



S. melanopleurus, as I have proved by many examples, makes, in the 

 sun, from nine to twelve notes, at the rate of fifty-three in fifteen sec- 

 onds; the usual number of notes is ten. 



Note of Stenobothrus melanopleurus in the sun. 



In the shade the rate falls to forty-three in fifteen seconds, the 

 number of notes remaining the same. 



