132 omknst:ttkr : 



the last. The notes are repealetl at the rate of two hundred 

 per minute, and. while the interval between the two series of 

 notes varies to a certain degree, it is seldom "greater than two 

 and one-third seconds or less than a second and a (juarter." 

 This is Mr. Scuddcr's attempt to Kng^lish the call of the 



katydid : — 



xr! xr! or xr! xr! xr! 



which to the lay mind conveys the idea of a rip saw coming 

 in contact with a nail. The sound is really more agreeable 

 when heard proceeding from its natural source. 



The long horned grasshoppers, or green grasshoppers, 

 with which are included the katydids, are among the most 

 musical of our orthopterous insects. They are delicately 

 built, much more fragile than the short horned grasshoppers, 

 and are noted for their powers of song. The males are gen- 

 erally furnished with a musical contrivance consisting of a 

 peculiar development of the veins and membrane at the base 

 of the wing cover. The more fre(iuently occurring forms are 

 known as meadow grasshoppers. 



Hrunelli, an Italian naturalist, experimented with some 

 long horned grasshoppers. He kept several in a chamber, 

 which continued their crinking song during the whole day ; 

 but the instant they heard a knock at the door they were 

 silent. He subsequently invented a method of imitating 

 their sounds, and when he did so outside the door, at first a 

 few would venture upon a soft whis])er, and by and by the 

 whole party burst out in chorus to answer him ; but upon 

 repeating the rap at the door, they instantly stopped again as 

 if alarmed. He likewise confined a male in one side of his 

 garden, while he put a female in the other at liberty, which 

 began to leap as soon as she heard the crink of the male, atul 

 immediately came to him, an experiment which he frequently 

 repeated with the same result. It is remarkable that the 

 males alone of these insects are musical : for " the females," 

 as Swammerdam long ago observed, "of locusts, grasshop- 

 pers, and others, make no noise." 



