INSECT MUSICIANS SNODGRASS 437 



Neither male ever inflicted any actual damage on his rival, and in 

 spite of their savage threats, neither was ever seen really to grasp 

 any part of the other with his jaws. Either would dash madly 

 at a female that happened to disturb him while fiddling, but neither 

 was ever seen to threaten a female with open jaws. 



The weather has much influence on the spirits of the males; their 

 chirps are always loudest and their rivalry keenest when it is bright 

 and warm. Setting their cage in the sun on cold days always started 

 the two males at once to singing. Out of doors, though the crickets 

 sing in all weather and at all hours, variations of their notes in tone 

 and strength according to the temperature are very noticeable. This 

 is not due to any effect of humidity on their instruments, for the 

 two belligerent males kept in the house never had the temper on 

 cold and gloomy days that characterized their actions and their song 

 on days that were warm and bright. This, in connection with the 

 fact that their music is usually aimed at each other in a spirit clearly 

 suggestive of vindictiveness and anger, is all good evidence that 

 Gryllus sings to express himself and not to " charm the females." 

 In fact, it is often hard to feel certain whether he is singing or 

 swearing. If we could understand the words we might be shocked 

 at the awful language he is hurling at his rival. However, swearing 

 is only a form of emotional expression, and singing is another. 

 Gryllus, like an opera singer, simply expresses all his emotions in 

 music, and, whether we can understand the words or not, we under- 

 stand the sentiment. 



At last one of the two caged rivals died; whether from natural 

 causes or b^ foul means was never ascertained. He was alive early 

 on the day of his demise but apparently weak, though still intact. 

 In the middle of the afternoon, however, he lay on his back, his 

 hind legs stretched out straight and stiff; only a few movements of 

 the front legs showed that life was not yet quite extinct. One antenna 

 was lacking and the upper lip and adjoining parts of the face were 

 gone, evidently chewed off. But this is not necessarily evidence that 

 death had followed violence, for in cricketdom violence more com- 

 monly follows death; that is, cannibalism is substituted for inter- 

 ment. A few days before, a dead female in the cage had been de- 

 voured quickly, all but the skull. After the death of the male the 

 remaining one no longer fiddled so often, nor with the same sharp 

 challenging tone as before. Yet this could not be attributed to sad- 

 ness; he had despised his rival and had clearly desired to be rid of 

 him ; his change was due rather to the lack of any special stimulus 

 for expression. 



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