INSECT MUSICIANS SNODGRASS 



443 



Jost amid the louder racket of the katydids and other night 

 choristers." 



After the 1st of September it is not hard to locate one of the per- 

 formers, and when discovered with a flash light, he is found to be a 

 medium-sized, brown, short-legged cricket, built somewhat on the 

 style of Grjdlus but smaller (fig. 28). The male, however, while 

 singing raises his wings straight up, after the manner of the tree 

 crickets, and he too carries a basin of liquid on his back much 

 sought after by the female. In fact the liquid is so attractive to 

 her that, at least in a cage, she is sometimes so persistent in her 

 efforts to obtain it that the male is clearly annoyed and tries to 

 avoid her. One male was observed to say very distinctly by his 

 actions as he repeatedly tried 

 to escape the nibbling of a 

 female, presumably his wife 

 since she was taken with him 

 when captured, " I do wish 

 you would quit pestering me 

 and let me sing ! " Here is 

 another piece of evidence sug- 

 gesting that the male cricket 

 sings to express his own emo- 

 tions, whatever they may be, 

 and not primarily to attract 

 the female. But if, as in the 

 case of the tree crickets, his 

 music tells the female where 

 she may find her favorite con- 

 fection and this in turn leads 

 to matrimony, when the male 

 is in the proper mood, it suggests a practical use and a reason for 

 the stridulating apparatus of the male. 



THE CICADA FAMILY 



The cicada (fig. 29) needs but little introduction when it is 

 explained that he is the insect popularly though incorrectly known 

 as the "locust." The loud song of those species that come every 

 year is always a feature of the season's daytime program from 

 midsummer till early fall, while the chorus of the 17-year species 

 is a special event of early summer wherever and whenever a brood 

 appears. 



The ancient Greeks knew the cicada, but called him Tettix. 

 They appreciated his music to such an extent that they kept him 

 captive in cages to hear him sing. iEsop, however, who always 



Fig. 28. — The jumping bush cricket, Oro- 

 cliaris saltator. Male above, female below 



