OUTLINES OF ENTOMOLOGY. 117 



ing in comparison with the size and delicate texture of the insect. 

 The females are quite different in appearance, being slender and almost 

 cylindrical, with the wing covers curving down at the sides so as to 

 partly enclose the body. The ovipositor is slender but very strong and 

 horny, nearly as long as the abdomen, and terminates in a blunt tip 

 beset with minute points. With this instrument the female of QU. niveus 

 pierces the young canes of grape or of raspberry, depositing in a row 

 a considerable number of eggs. (E. latipennis forces hers into the pith 

 of stems or into bark through a series of pinhole-like punctures 

 from one-half an inch to one inch apart. The punctured twigs are 

 invariably killed, and the insects occasionally do considerable damage ; 

 but as these crickets feed almost entirely upon aphides and other mi- 

 nute pests, they make ample compensation for all the injury that they 

 do, and may be accounted beneficial rather than injurious. 



The most aesthetically interesting insects among the Locustidce are 

 the " Katydids." The peculiar, interrupted stridulations of these little 

 tree-top musicians have inspired many a poetic gem and dainty bit of 

 imaginative prose. Nor are they merely favorites with the poets, who, 

 for the most part, know them only by their notes ; but the naturalist, 

 who keeps them as pets, finds in their habits and histories most instruct- 

 ive and suggestive revelations of insect life. They are mostly of large 

 size, and of a bright green color, in this assimilating closely to the foli- 

 age amid which they dwell. The large, free head is curiously like that 

 of a horse ; the eyes are round and bright, and of a yellowish-brown 

 color; the antennae are very long, slender and tapering; the various 

 mouth parts are easily distinguished without the aid of a lens, and the 

 processes of cutting and mastication may be closely observed, as the 

 insects will often sit upon one's finger and nibble a leaf or bit of fruit 

 in fearless enjoyment. The upper side of the pro-thorax is covered by 

 a wide collar, which projects slightly over the head in front, and, pos- 

 teriorly, overlaps the bases of the wings. In repose the wings meet on 

 the back in an acute angle, and are more or less convex at the sides, to 

 enclose the body. At the base they over-lap in a wide, flat triangle, the 

 upper surface of one and the under surface of the other being pecu- 

 liarly ridged and roughened to form the " taborets," which grate together 

 as the insect raises and lowers its wings. These wing covers display a 

 venation imitative of that of leaves. The under wings are broad, com- 

 posed of very delicate, finely-netted membrane, with green tips where 

 they project slightly beyond the upper pair. The legs are slender, with 

 the tibine slightly spiny and the tarsi ending in long, sharp claws. The 

 hind legs are very nearly twice the length of the others. At the base 

 of the tibiiTB of the fore legs are peculiar oval cavities covered with 



