INSECT MUSICIANS SNODGRASS 407 



to sandy fields near the seacoast that he is seldom heard by inland 

 audiences. Most of the other actors on the stage at this season sing 

 in tones so modest and subdued that their notes are generally lost in 

 the all-pervading din of the crickets and other louder voiced per- 

 formers. All save one, and this one is that star of the insect opera, 

 the famous katydid. 



To hear the true katydid you must ordinarily go to the deep woods, 

 to the lonesome places of the night, for this virtuoso is no common 

 dooryard singer. High in the oaks and hickories he dwells and there 

 he and his troupe give their nightly serenades of katy-did', katy-did', 

 katy-s he-did', and sometimes katy-didnH, a sound unmistakable and 

 one never forgotten when once heard. The performance lasts all 

 night and subsides only with the coming of dawn when insect concerts 

 close. 



About the middle of August, Gryllus, the black cricket, comes on 

 the stage again, this time represented by more numerous individuals 

 that hatched in spring from overwintering eggs. From now on his 

 chirp is to be heard everywhere from lawn, garden, and field, both 

 by day and by night, a sound always cheerful and always to be 

 recognized by its vibratory quality. Associated with Gryllus is an- 

 other smaller cricket of the turf, a very little fellow called Nemobius, 

 with a very little voice, and one so delicate that you must bend low 

 to catch his elfin notes, a silvery, twittering trill, rising like the music 

 of some unseen pygmy from the grass. 



Shortly after the advent of the second Gryllus band a new note 

 breaks out, a loud, piping chirp inflected upward at the end, a sound 

 easily mistaken for that of some little tree toad. The notes are hard 

 to locate precisely, they seem to come from here, from there, from 

 over yonder, and from back here again, but always singly. Their 

 clear tones stand out distinctly above the general ring of mingled 

 voices now at the peak of intensity, and, as nightly they become more 

 numerous, they soon preempt the stage. They are the song of another 

 cricket, the jumping bush cricket, more dignified by his scientific name 

 of Orocharis. 



Of course, the reader must understand that this program does not 

 apply to all places alike. It is written for the neighborhood of Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Orocharis, for example, is abundant in Maryland but 

 would be seldom heard in New England. Likewise, in New England 

 the trilling tree crickets are less common, and consequently there the 

 notes of the snowy and the narrow-winged have greater prominence. 

 The katydids of New England also are less melodious than are those 

 along the Potomac. In the South, especially in Florida, there are 

 other singers that do not reach the latitude of Washington; while 

 few of our common eastern favorites are to be heard in California. 



