THE KATY-DID. 157 



their piercer is shorter and often more curved, than in the 

 foregoing kinds. They do not lay their eggs in the ground, 

 but deposit them upon branches and twigs, in regular rows. 

 My attention was first directed to the eggs of the tree-grylli 

 by Mr. F. C. Hill, late of Philadelphia. 



Some of these grasshoppers have the front of the head 

 obtuse, and others have it conical, or prolonged to a point 

 between the antennas. Among the former is the insect 

 which, from its peculiar note, is called the katy-did. Its 

 body is of a pale green color, the wing-covers and wings 

 being somewhat darker. Its thorax is rough like shagreen, 

 and has somewhat the form of a saddle, being curved down- 

 wards on each side, and rounded and slightly elevated behind, 

 and is marked by two slightly transverse furrows. The 

 w r ings are rather shorter than the wing-covers, and the latter 

 are very large, oval, and concave, and enclose the body with- 

 in their concavity, meeting at the edges above and below, 

 somewhat like the two sides or valves of a pea-pod. The 

 veins are large, very distinct, and netted like those of some 

 leaves, and there is one vein of larger size running along the 

 middle of each wing-cover, and simulating the midrib of a 

 leaf. The musical organs of the male consist of a pair of 

 taborets. They are formed by a thin and transparent mem- 

 brane stretched in a strong half-oval frame in the triangular 

 overlapping portion of each wing-cover. During the daytime 

 these insects are silent, and conceal themselves among the 

 leaves of trees ; but at night they quit their lurking-places, 

 and the joyous males begin the tell-tale call with which they 

 enliven their silent mates. This proceeds from the friction 

 of the taboret frames against each other when the wing-covers 

 are opened and shut, and consists of two or three distinct 

 notes almost exactly resembling articulated sounds, and cor- 

 responding with the number of times that the wing-covers 

 are opened and shut ; and the notes are repeated at intervals 

 of a few minutes, for hours together. The mechanism of the 

 taborets, and the concavity of the wing-covers, reverberate 



