464 



Marvels of Insect Life, 



of employing the same principle. In the three families, crickets, 1 long-horned grass- 

 hoppers,^ and short-horned grasshoppers and locusts,^ differences of structure 

 necessitate differences in the hddles and bows. The song of the house-cricket * is 

 produced by the wing-covers of the male Insect. On the under side is a file, and as 

 the two wings are vibrated the edge of one scrapes the file on the other and produces 

 the shrill " crink-crink." Bates speaks of a species of wood-cricket (really a long- 

 horned grasshopper) he found in the neighbourhood of Obydos, Brazil. He says : 

 " The notes are certainly the loudest and most extraordinarv that I ever heard 

 produced bv an orthopterous Insect. The natives call it the tanana, in allusion to 



its music, which is a sharp, resonant, stridulation 

 resembling the svllables ta-na-na, ta-na-na, 

 succeeding each other with little intermission. 

 It seems to be rare in the neighbourhood. When 

 the natives capture one, they keep it in a wicker- 

 work cage for the sake of hearing it sing. A 

 friend of mine kept one six days. It was livel\- 

 only for two or three, and then its loud note 

 could be heard from one end of the \'illage to the 



;' ' ^B '... ■ "-^"^^SiR other." The thin, parchmentv wing-covers are 



^-' '^wS^^mSfi-- ' very convex, and give the resting Insect an 



inflated, bladder-like appearance. The inner edge 

 of each wing-cover has a horn^^ lobe near the 

 base, and one lobe has sharp, raised margins, 

 whilst the strong nervure of the other is crossed 

 by fine, sharp furrows like those of a file. The 

 two lobes being rubbed sharply one over the 

 other, these instruments produce the sounds, 

 and the parchmenty wing-covers and the drum- 

 like space they enclose help to gi\e resonance 

 to them. 



The fact that these musical sounds are pro- 

 duced only by the males in most of the grasshopper 

 family and in the cicadas will prepare the reader 

 for the further statement that the\' are used in 

 the courtship of the Insects, the whereabouts of 

 the male being thus acU'crtised to the female. 

 There is reason to believe that some species ^^•]li(■ll aj)j)ear to \)v without 

 musical calls of this character really have them, though the notes tliey 

 produce are not audible to the Inmian ear. The reason tor this supposition 

 lies in the fact that such apparently dumb species are provided, like the obviously 

 musical ones, with ears — situated in the legs or the hind-bodies. The posses- 

 sion of ears by an apparently dumb sjx'cies is good iMTsumptive evidence 

 that the species must itself produce sounds. It should be ]U)ted, too, that each 

 species has its own particular notes, to which, no doubt, its ears are specially attimed. 

 On this point vScudder, speaking of XiM'tli American grasshopi)ers, says : " The 



Andersson's Grasshopper. 



In this South African species of remarkable appear- 

 ance, the wings are not developed and the leapiiif; 

 legs are not used for leaping. The undeveloped 

 wing-covers in the male are strongly grooved and 

 ridged, whilst below them on the body there is a 

 swollen plate with two or three hard folds. Over 

 these various ridges and folds the thigh is rubbed, 

 and the action results in a loud note. The specimen 

 photographed is mutilated, so far as legs are con 

 ceriied, but it shows the general form and the 

 disposition of the hinder tliigh';. 



1 Grvllida;. 



Lo('usti(l;c. 



■* A( ri(liid;(> 



^ ('.r\llus (lonifsticus. 



