VOICEvS OF THE NIGHT. 63 



emptiness, and it were folly to go on providing for genera- 

 tions of crickets that at most can amount to so little and 

 that inevitably must pass away so soon. He is one of the 

 largest of our crickets, and j^ou may know him by his long 

 wing-covers, which exceed the length of his bod}- — -an un- 

 usual exception to the prevailing cricket style. The sci- 

 entists long ago named him IvUctuosus, the Mournful, and 

 he and all his species have been true to the designation. 

 Not infrequently he wull remain in one place, repeating 

 the same world-weary note through the livelong night, no 

 companion responding to his plaintive call, and in the 

 morning one half expects to hear him say sadly, " I told 

 you how it would be." 



Wholly different in temperament is the Snow}' Tree 

 Cricket. His shrill, impatient notes quiver with energy. 

 I/ike one conscious of a mission, he appears to be calling 

 to all the cricket world that the raspberry canes are ready 

 for the rows of punctures, that time is fleeting, that cold 

 days and colder nights are coming, and that they must all 

 be up and doing while opportunity remains. He is a 

 prophet among his people, and, impatient of their procras- 

 tination, hastens from place to place, filling the arbor 

 with his strident appeal. 



There is a certain L,ong-Horned Grasshopper that is as 

 unlike the Tree Cricket as it is possible to be. He takes 

 his station upon some stalk of grass or spray of golden- 

 rod, and there remains? stridulating steadily, persistently, 

 almost sullenly, apparentl}^ indifferent to results. He does 

 not trouble himself with vain questioning of the why and 

 wherefore. He was formed for stridulating, and whether 

 the expenditure of energy is worth while or not is no con- 

 cern of his. One evening, with the help of a lantern, I 

 came upon two of these sturd}^ stridulators. They were 

 within three feet of each other, but went on with their 

 steady scraping, apparently indifferent to the fact that they 



