148 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



no means of a highly specialized character, each tegmen 

 appears to act as a sounding-board. 



Although in a large number of instances amply winged, 

 the Locustid^e seem generally of a somewhat sedentary 

 nature, availing themselves little of the wings for flight, 

 using them rather as a kind of parachute, in descending 

 from the trees to the ground. Moreover, they are 

 chieHy nocturnal in their habits, though not entirely so. 

 " These are the merry choristers," says Riley, speaking 

 of American forms, " that make our woods and valleys 

 ring with their pleasant songs during the evenings of 

 late summer and early fall." The songs of the different 

 species are very varied ; indeed, each different species 

 may ordinarily be distinguished by its peculiar note ; 

 but the study not infrequently presents some difficul- 

 ties. Locusta viridissima produces a shrill stridula- 

 tion, and sometimes chirps a little in the day. Bates 

 tells us of one of these green grasshoppers, on the Lower 

 Amazons, whose notes were the loudest and most extra- 

 ordinary of any orthopterous insect he ever heard. Its 

 native name, Tanana, is in allusion to its music. The 

 natives keep it in small wicker cages for the sake of its 

 sonor. The loud note of one could be heard from one 

 end of the village to the other. 



