schlundt] A YEAR WITH KATYDIDS 61 



is provided with a serrate-edged ovipositor, with which she may 

 remove the smooth surface of the bark, preparatory to the de- 

 positing of her eggs. We now watched the katydids with more 

 interest than ever. 



Several days later a gummy substance appeared on the 

 ovipositor of the Carmi katydid. This was doubtless put on the 

 twig to hold in place fourteen brownish eggs which were de- 

 posited there in two even rows on 

 September 5. On the following day 

 we found her dead in the cage, her 

 life-work completed. On September 

 7, our high school katydid, after 

 having prepared a twig in like man- 

 ner, deposited, to our great satisfac- 

 tion, twenty-six eggs in a rather dis- 

 orderly fashion on the twig. Two 



days later, at the age of about seven- /// a EQQ$ M0M Mr . km 

 teen weeks, "Katy" also died. ™ otvosnto sf»T.x«r«r* 



Cold weather was approaching, itmy ^aj 17^ 



and the brief summer lives of most insects were almost spent. 

 Climatic conditions would not allow the imago insect to live 

 through the winter and continue activity the next summer, as 

 some other insects and frogs do. But instead, safely protected 

 by a firm, hard shell, secure against rain, snow and icy wind, 

 there rests in each little brown egg a tiny "katydid-to-be", ready 

 at the call of Spring to emerge and complete another life cycle 

 as its parents did. 



Besides the pleasure and interesting knowledge that "Katy" 

 gave to us during the summer, she made that one family of in- 

 sects seem like dear friends or old acquaintances wherever I 

 might meet them. It certainly proved worth while to trace this 

 life story from beginning to end and thereby get another peep 

 into the rich, varied, and mysterious sphere of insect life and 

 into nature in general. 



On Saturday, March 18, 9:30 to 11:45 A. M., in Fullerton 

 Hall, the Chicago Nature- Study Club will hold its annual 

 meeting and rally. A strong program has been arranged, includ- 

 ing such topics as birds, school gardens, school museums, and 

 assistance in nature-study of the schools by pupils of the teach- 

 ers' college. Two of the addresses will be illustrated. All inter- 

 ested in nature-study are welcome to this interesting meeting. 



