THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 367 



I imitated the night-song during sunshine, and obtained an immediate 

 response in the same language. The experiment proved that the insects 

 could hear as well as sing. 



This species is exceedingly shy, and the observer must be patient who 

 would hold converse with it. One insect which I had disturbed, and 

 beside which I was standing, could not at first decide to resume his song ; 

 he was afraid of the intruder, but, enticed by a neighboring songster, gave 



Fig. 51. 



bzrwi bzrwi bzrwi 



TT 



I V 

 Note of Phaneroptera curvicauda by day. 



utterance several times to a barely discernible, short click or tl; after five 

 or six of these efforts his desires overcame his fears. The note by day is 

 bzrwi, and lasts for one third of a second. 



The night-song consists of a repetition, ordinarily eight times, of a 

 note which sounds like tchw. It is repeated at the rate of five times in 



Fig. 52. 



tchw tchw tchw tchw tchw tchw tchw tchw 



f~T^T ^ V^~f^i^t^ I c * 5* ~ 



Note of Pbaneroptera curvicauda by night. 



three quarters of a second, making each note half the length of the day 

 note. 



9. ConocepJialus ensigcr Harr. Found throughout New England, even 

 into the sub-alpine zone of the White Mountains ; it extends south as far 

 as the middle states and southern Illinois, and west to Nebraska, Minne- 

 sota, and the Red river of the north. Mr. Smith found a female of this 

 insect "with the ovipositor forced down between the root-leaves and the 

 stalk of the Audropogon, where the eggs are probably deposited." 



There is a species of Conocephalus (C. robustas Scudd.), found on the 

 southern sea-beaches of New England, which is exceedingly noisy, and 

 sings equally, and, I believe, similarly, by day and night. The song 

 resembles that of the harvest fly, Cicada caniadaris. It often lasts for 

 many minutes, and seems, at a distance, to be quite uniform ; on a nearer 

 approach, one can hear it swelling and decreasing in volume, while there 



