72 



have little need of wings, these organs have gradually degenerated into a musical and 

 protective apparatus. As the male was released from the necessity of hunting up the 

 female, he would naturally lose after a time his slighter but more active body ; it is easy 

 to see how arboreal habits once acquired may react upon the entire organization." 



brw oliwi I'liwi i-li\vi olnvi clnvi clnvi chwi cliwl chwi oliwi 

 #• 0^- 0'- 0'\-0' 0- 0' #- •' »-| • 



!. I 



• 



chwi clnvi clnvi clnvi chwi chwi chwi chwi chwi chwi chwi 



.1/1 I ' ! I 

 • 1/ i/- > > I P > > / t-* w^ 



Fig. 48. Note of Conocephalus ensiger. 



Fernald says : "I cannot imagine what ingenious person first discov^ered that their 

 song resembled the words " Katy did," instead of some other words ; for many persona 

 besides myself fail, upon hearing them for the first time, to recognize them by their sound." 



Conocephalus ensiger Harr. This insect has but a single song and stridulates only 

 by night or during cloudy weather ; it begins its song as soon as the sky is obscured or 

 the sun is near the horizon ; it begins with a note like brw, then pauses an instant and 

 immediately emits a rapid succession of sounds like clnvi at the rate of about five per 

 second, and continues them for an unlimited time. Either the rapidity of the notes is 

 variable, becoming sometimes as frequent as twenty-three in three seconds, or else there 

 is some deceptive character in its song. In a number of instances I have counted the 

 notes as rapid as the highest rate given above, but on a nearer approach to verify them 

 the rate was invariably reduced to five per second ; it is doubtful whether this was due 

 to alarm at my approach, for this is one of the least shy of our Locustarians, 



' McNeill says " its song is a loud rasping zip-zip-zip repeated indefinitely. It does 

 not begin to sing until dark," and in another place he compares the song to the first 

 staccato f)art of the song of Orchelimuvi vulgare. 



Davis writes of it on Staten Island that it is the first Conocephalus to be heard, 

 " and with ik-ik-ik, as if sharpening/, a saw, enlivens low bushes and particularly the corn 

 patch. This insect seems to especially delight in perching near the top of a corn-stalk 

 and there giving forth its rather impulsive song. I have often watched one crawl, with 

 many a spiral turn, up the stem, fiddling all the while. My notes on its first heard stridu- 

 lation show considerable uniformity, and the average date may be taken as July 15." 



Conocephalus nebrascensis Brun. Of this species McNeill writes : " If ensiger may 

 be said to sing the first pait of the song of Orchelimuni vulgare, the well-known zip-zip- 

 zip-ze-e-e-e, nebrai^censis may be said with equal truth to sing the last part of the song, 

 that represented by the ze-e-e-e ; but the sound is much more resonant, being really in 

 quality much more like the song of a C'cada, but not so loud and without a swell. It 

 begins to sing earlier in the evening than ensiger." 



Conocephalus robustus Scudd. This grasshopper is exceedingly noisy and sings equally, 

 and I believe similarly, by day and night. The song resembles that of the harvest fly 

 Cicada canicular/t,. It often lasts for many minutes, and seems, at a distance, to be quite 

 uniform ; on a nearer approach, one can hear it swelling and decreasing in volume, while 

 there is a corresponding muscular movement from the front of the abdomen backward, two 

 and a half times a second. This is accompanied by a buzzing sound, quite audible near at 

 hand ; it resembles the humming of a bee, or the droning of a bagpipe. 



McNeil says of this species that •' its song is indistinguishable from that of dissimilis," 



