LO( USTIDJE. 

 PHANEROPTERIJJJE. 



The species of this sub-family are among the largest of our Locustidce, 

 and, with those of the next, are commonly known as " Katydids," The 

 apex of the head is obtuse or rounded, without cone or spine, and the 

 prosternum is unarmed. The wing covers are shorter than the wings, 

 usually expanded in the middle, and of a bright, uniform green color. The 

 wings are folded, like a fan and are long and strong, the insects being fly- 

 ers rather than leapers. The hind limbs, being seldom used except to 

 give themselves an upward impetus at the beginning of flight, while long 

 and slender, are proportionally much smaller in diameter than in the 

 sub-family Gmocepfialinx, whose members leap rather than fly. 



The " Katydids" are the most arboreal of all the Locustidse, the great 

 majority of them passing their entire lives on shrubs and trees where 

 they feed upon the leaves and tender twigs, and when present in num- 

 bers often do excessive injury. The color and form of their wings serve 

 admirably to protect them against their worst foes, the birds ; and as they 

 live a solitary life, i. e., do not flock together in numbers as do the green 

 grasshoppers, they are but seldom noticed by man. Their love calls, or 

 songs, however, make the welkin ring at night from mid-August until 

 after heavy frost, and though but one or two of the eight species found 

 in the State make a note in any way resembling the syllables " Katy did, 

 she did," yet all are accredited with this sound by the casual observer, 

 and hence the common name usually given to the members of this sub- 

 family. Their call is seldom made by day for the obvious reason that it 

 might attract the attention of the birds and so lead to the destruction of 

 the songster. As twilight approaches, however, the male of each species 

 begins his peculiar note which is kept up with little or no intermission 

 until the approach of day warns him that his feathered enemies will soon 

 be on the alert, and that silence will be, for a time, the best policy to 

 pursue. 



From the other Locustida\ the Katydids differ widely in their habits of 

 oviposition, the eggs not being deposited in the earth or in twigs, but are 

 usually glued fast in double rows to the outer surface of slender twigs or 

 on the edges of leaves. The eggs of the most common species appear like 

 small flattened hemp seeds, and usually overlap one another in the row in 

 which they are placed. On account of this method of oviposition, the 

 ovipositors of the " Katydids" are broader, more curved, and more obtuse 

 7 



