NATURE S CALENDAR 



249 



huddle utider boards and loose stones, 

 where some live on torpidly until spring. 

 Earlier than this they have been seen in 

 large numbers beside the paths, where 

 the females thrust into the hard ground 

 their ovipositors, which are tipped with a 

 conical point, like an instrument used by 

 well-drivers, and leave buried the yellow- 

 ish oval eggs which will hatch next spring. 

 The shrilling of the crickets is one of 

 the most characteristic sounds of autumn, 

 and the Indian summer air often hums 

 with it. This shrilling is made by the 

 males alone. The venation of their wing 

 covers is very different from that of the 

 females' wings ; the veins are fewer and 

 the larger spaces between connected by 

 a parchment-like membrane. " If," says 

 Prof. J. H. Comstock, "we examine un- 

 der a magnifier the principal vein, which 

 extends diagonally across the base of the 

 wing cover, we shall see that it is fur- 

 nished with ridges like those of a file." 

 'On the inner margin of the wing cover, 

 a short distance towards the base from 

 the end of the principal vein, there is a 

 hardened portion which may be called 

 the scraper. Each wing cover is there- 

 fore provided with a file and a scraper. . . . 

 When the cricket wishes to make his call, 

 he elevates his wing covers at an angle 

 of about 45° with the body ; then holding 

 them in such a position that the scraper 

 of one rests upon the file of the other, 

 he moves the wing covers back and forth 



November 24 



November 25 



