80 FIELD ZOOLOGY. 



Whether the locusts sing at any time. 



It is a very difficult matter to catch the leaping 

 orthopters without something to lengthen one's reach, 

 so be sure to take your insect net on this trip. 



Late in the afternoon of some summer day, while 

 you are sitting on the veranda, you may hear a shrill 

 singing. Get up and follow the sound, cautiously so as 

 -not to disturb the singer. If it sounds like an unusually 

 shrill cricket song you may have to peer around con- 

 siderably before you see the pale, ghost-like creature, 

 with the big voice but the small body. Ten chances to 

 one it is a tree cricket, and you will find it on the vine 

 or some near shrubbery, in the shadiest portion, singing 

 for very happiness as it begins searching for its evening 

 meal. Can you find what it is eating? Is it a male or a 

 female cricket? Can you tell from its mouth parts, and 

 from where it is found, whether it sucks liquid food or 

 eats leaves? 



Praying mantids may be looked for at the same time, 

 or they may be found out in the flower garden, crawling 

 warily about from stalk to stalk, praying occasionally, 

 with uplifted hands, that some insect may come their way. 

 During the height of summer these mantids will come 

 to your light if you leave your window open. In Septem- 

 ber, or later, they may be quite sluggish, when you find 

 them on plants or shrubs. They will probably have 

 laid their eggs by that time, and are soon to end their 

 lives, their good work done, and their mission of providing 

 for their young accomplished; hence it will not be wrong 

 to catch them for your examination or to put them into 

 your collection box; although a collection is valuable 

 because you know about what you have in it, and not 

 for the specimens themselves. 



