71 



The note, which sounds like xr, has a shocking lack of melody ; the poets who have 

 sung its praises must have heard it at the distance that lends enchantment ; in close proxi- 

 mity the sound is excessively rasping and grating, louder and hoarser than I have heard 



Fig. 47.— Note of Cyrtophyllus concavus. 



from any other of the Locustarians in America or in Europe, and the Locustarians are 

 the noisiest of all Orthoptera. Since these creatures are abundant wherever they occur, 

 the noise produced by them, on an evening specially favorable to their song, is most 

 discordant. Usually, as I have said, the r otes are two in number, rapidly repeated at 

 short intervals ; perhaps nine out of ten will ordinarily give this number ; but occasionally 

 a stubborn insect persists in sounding the triple note ; and as katydids appear desirous 

 of defiantly answering their neighbors in the same measure, the proximity of a treble- 

 voiced songster demoralizes a whole neighborhood, and a curious medley results ; notes 

 from some individuals may then be heard all the while, scarcely a moment's time inter- 

 vening between their stridulations, some nearer, others at a greater distance ; so that ttie 

 air is filled by these noisy troubadours with an indescribably confused and grating clatter. 

 This renders special observation of the notes of any individual all the more diificult, and 

 it is only by great patience and careful selection that it can be accomplished, unless one 

 places himself upon the outskirts of a colony. 



Harris gave us the first account of this insects' song. He says in his classical Report : 

 " The musical organs of the male consist of a pair of taborets. They are formed by a 

 thin and transparent membrane stretched in a strong half-oval frame in the triangular 

 overlapping portion of each wing cover. During the day time these insects are silent, 

 and conceal themselves amongst the leaves ot trees ; but at night they quit their lurking 

 places, and the joyous males begin the tell-tale call witli which they enliven their silent 

 mates. This proceeds from the friction of the taboret frames against each other when 

 the wing covers are opened and shut, and consists of two or three distinct notes almost 

 exactly resembling articulated sounds, and corresponding with the number of times the 

 wing covers are opened and shut ; and the notes are repeated at intervals of a few 

 minutes, for hours together. 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. At the approach of 

 twilight the katydid mounts to the upper branches of the tree in which he lives, and as 

 soon as the shades of evening prevail, begins his noisy babble, while rival notes issue from 

 the neighboring trees and the groves resound with the call of ' Katy-did, she-did ' the 

 livelong night." 



McNeill writes of it in Illinois : " This is the true ' katydid,' common wherever 

 there are trees. Its song is better known, and the insect itself less known, because of 

 its arboreal habits, than either of the other katydids. This species moves about so little, 

 that it is not unlikely that in many cases an individual spends its whole life upon a 

 single tree. I have listened to the song of one katydid on a certain tn^e every evening 

 for more than two months. I have noticed repeatedly that on any evening when they 

 are singing, there are the same number of individuals as indicated by the number of 

 songs. • • • So far as I know this is the only species of Orthoptera in which the 

 male is not smaller and more active than the female. It is the only green-winged 

 Locustid with which I am acquainted that does not have the wings longer than the 

 elytra. These facts are not improbably mutually related. It may be surmised that, in 

 the evolution of species, the katydid that developed in the greatest degree its musical 

 apparatus had the least need of hunting up his partner when the mating season came 

 round, and as it was so well protected by its form and color and arboreal habits as to 



