514 AliNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



The songs of insects have been enjoyed and applauded by man since 

 the dawn of history and among our musical insects the Orthoptera 

 are dominant. So musical are the notes of some of our orthopterous 

 songsters that it is difficult to express their melody. The rhythmic 

 beat of the tree cricket has been termed by Burroughs as a " slum- 

 berous breathing," while Hawthorne describes it an " audible still- 

 ness " and declares that " if moonlight could be heard it would sound 

 like that." ^ 



Various efforts have been made to set to music the notes of Or- 

 thoptera. Scudder made the attempt with the songs of a number 

 of species^ and Eegen has attempted it with the notes of Tham- 

 notrizon.^ 



A species of large katydid is kept captive by natives in South 

 America for the sake of its song* and the natives of Africa are lulled 

 to sleep by the song of caged crickets.^ Some species, indeed, are 

 objects of barter in some regions. Thus gryllids are sold in little 

 cages in the streets of Florence on Ascension day as songsters ^ and 

 caged crickets are sold in Portugal for their song and for the good 

 luck which they are supposed to bring their ownerJ 



Considerable use is made of Orthoptera in sport, especially in 

 China and Japan. The Chinese are much given to gambling and 

 are said to wdn and lose fortunes on cricket fights as American 

 sportsmen win or lose at horse races. In China the fighting crickets 

 are trained and cared for as carefully as if they were blooded 

 horses. They arc given a fixed diet, partl}^ of honey and boiled 

 chestnuts, and if one falls ill it is fed on mosquitoes. A good cricket 

 fight will last half an hour and, to win, one of the combatants must 

 slay his adversary or throw him bodily over the 6-inch wall inclosing 

 the arena. These fighting crickets, which are ail males, are bought 

 and sold like horses, one with a good record bringing $5 or $10, while 

 a champion often sells for as much as $50. 



1 McNeill, Ent. Amer., vol. 5, p. 103 (1889). 



2 Hitchcock's Kept. Geol. New Hamphire, vol, 1, p. 362-380 (1S74) ; 23rd Ann. Rept. 

 Ent. Soc. Ontario, 1892, p. 62-78 (1893). 



»Sitz. ber. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math. — Nat. Klasse, vol. 97, p. 487-488 (1908). 



< Bates, Journ. Ent, vol. 1, p. 474-477 (1863). 



«Moufet, Ins. Theatr., p. 136 (1634). 



«Burr, Proc. S. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1899, p. 12-13 (1900). 



■'Bather, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc, vol. 8, p. 56 (1913). 



