INSECT MUSICIANS SNODGRASS 



413 



another male, " which had witnessed the performance at a short dis- 

 tance," fly quickly over and alight by the side of the first performer. 

 He says, " they ran by each other several times, occasionally touching 

 each other, but did not make any further manifestations, and finally 

 the last one flew away, leaving the other motionless in the grass." 

 Townsend thinks it probable that the females are attracted by these 

 performances of the males, and that the males vie with one another 

 in their exhibitions and are inclined to fight from a feeling of rivalry, 

 the one that flies away having been beaten. He says " there is little 

 doubt that in some instances the males actually clasp and fight" 

 (though no instance is given), "but that more often one of them 

 admits his defeat without recourse to blows." Finally, he concludes, 



Fig. 3. — The Carolina locust, Dissostevra Carolina, with wings spread, and In position 



at rest 



"the females doubtless are in waiting in convenient spots, from 

 which they witness these scenes, and ultimately accept the males 

 whose superior intimidating powers have resulted in their being left 

 in undisputed possession." This passage would be more convincing 

 if it were not for that word " doubtless." On the other hand, Somes, 

 another observer of the hovering performances of the same locust, 

 suggests that they are merely games of sport between the males, 

 " possibly akin to the jumping contests of small boys." All of which 

 shows how diffcult it is for us to interpret the behavior of insects. 

 The grasshoppers have a pair of eardrumlike membranes sunken in 

 large cavities on the sides of the body beneath the bases of the wings 

 (fig. 32, e), which are supposed to be hearing organs, the detail 

 structure of which will be described in the last section of this paper. 



1454—25- 



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