292 TEN ANT fi OF AN OLD FARM. 



daylight, seem to be as food of it as other crickets are of 

 darkness. 



" Now we are ready to consider how and wh}- the 

 crickets make their music. The old insects, for the most 

 part, die on the approach of cold weather ; but a few 

 survive the winter by sheltering themselves under 

 stones, or in holes secure from the access of water. Of 

 these are the solitary stragglers who make their way into 

 our houses, and warmed up b}' the genial fire to some 

 dim suggestion of summer, are awakened into a sense 

 of their forlorn estate, and creak out their loneliness to 

 some imagined mate. The same sounds are heard over 

 all our fields, and almost without cessation from twi- 

 light to dawn during our autumn months. There is no 

 music in summer, for pairing does not l)egin until Fall, 

 and the cricket's music is a love-call. It is the male's 

 signal to his mate, and if ever there was a persist- 

 ent, vociferous and self-satisfied serenader it is he." 

 (Fig. 99.) 



" Do 30U tell us that the female doesn't sing ?" asked 

 Abby, with some surprise. 



"Neither males nor females sing., for the insects 

 have no vocal organs. But the gift of music, such as it 

 is, is bestowed upon the male alone. Whether Madiun 

 Cricket is a loser thereby may be doubted, but the 

 human species is the gainer ; ^or, if Nature had en- 

 dowed both sexes with the power of shrilling, the night 

 discords would have been scai'cely bearable." 



"Does that fact api)ly to all Orthoptera ?" asked the 

 Doctor. 



