300 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



familiar with the note of this insect, whicli is one of the 

 best known sounds of our autumn evenings. The ap- 

 pearance of the insect is less familiar. Here it is. (Fig. 

 101). This is a large insect, measuring from the head 

 to tlie ends of the wing-covers more than an inch and a 

 half ; the body is an inch long, is of a pale green color, 

 the wing-cover and wings being somewhat darker. Its 

 thorax is rough like shagreen, and has somewhat the 

 form of a saddle, being curved downward on each side, 

 and rounded and slightly elevated behind. The wings 

 are rather shorter than the wing-covers, and the latter 

 are very large, oval and concave, and inclose the body 

 within their concavity, meeting at their edges above 

 and below, something like the two sides or valves of a 

 pea-pod. The veins are large, very distinct, and netted 

 like those of some leaves. There is one vein of larger 

 size running along the middle of each wing-cover resem- 

 bling the mid-rib of a leaf. 



"The taborets are formed by a thin and transparent 

 membrane, stretched in a strong, half oval frame in the 

 triangular overlapping portion of each wing-cover. 

 AVlien the male wishes to sound his call, ho opens and 

 shuts tlie wing-covers so that the frames of the taborets 

 rub rapidly and violently against each other. The 

 mechanism of the taborets and the concavity of the 

 wing-covers reverberate and increase the sound to such 

 a degree that it may be heard in the stillness of the 

 night at the distance of a quarter of a mile. 



"The music of the katydid is certainly remarkable 

 considering how it is j>roduced. It consists of two or 



