406 



Popular Science Monthly 



© Brown and Dawson 



The tree cricket makes its music by rasping its wings 

 one over the other about seventy times a minute 



tures, everybody exclaims in sur- 

 prise, "Why, that is something I 

 never saw before; I never knew 

 there was such a thing in existence. 

 Is it a new pest ? Is it something to 

 be dreaded?" 



Instead of something to be dread- 

 ed it is one of the nature lover's de- 

 lights. Such singing insects seem 

 to fit harmoniously into a summer 

 night, and when one's temperament 

 becomes attuned to the sounds there 

 is no more charming, natural music 

 in the world. The Japanese have 

 the right point of view. They hold 

 tea parties in the fields, and between 

 their sips of tea and bits of conversa- 

 tion they listen to the calls and 

 songs of such insects. 



Every student of insects knows 

 that the term "singing" is used 

 figuratively. It might be more 

 truly described as fiddling because 

 it is made by rasping one wing over 

 the other in a rapid movement. 

 This is well shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration. 



The Incessant Night Song of the 

 Snowy Tree Cricket 



FROM early sum- 

 mer to the time 

 of frost, we hear a 

 cheery, insistent 

 night song that 

 everybody knows. 

 But only persistent 

 and careful students 

 become familiar 

 with the insect that 

 trills the song. 

 From the grasses, 

 trees and shrubs 

 comes this incessant 

 music, represented 

 by Vernon L. Kel- 

 logg in the letters: 

 ' T-r-r — r-e-e ; t-r-r 

 — r-e-e." This is re- 

 peated about seven- 

 ty times a minute 

 without pause or 

 variation. 



Whenever a per- 

 sistent student of 

 insects obtains one 

 of these singing, or 

 rather fiddling crea- 



The Soldiers of 

 Dress 



The dress of the natives of New Guinea 

 consists principally of broad stripes of 

 white paint and necklaces of small bones 



New Guinea Do Not 

 in Khaki 



THE natives of 

 New Guinea 

 are still classed as 

 savages, although 

 many of them have 

 comfortable homes, 

 clustered into vil- 

 lages. 



The dress of the 

 males consists main- 

 ly of necklaces made 

 of human and pigs' 

 bones. The war- 

 riors make them- 

 selves fierce with 

 broad dashes of 

 white paint on their 

 bronze bodies and 

 on their clubs. The 

 bracelets below the 

 knees of the warrior 

 on the right of the 

 accompanying pho- 

 tograph are strung 

 with pigs' bones, 

 probably used as am- 

 ulets, since the pig 

 is much beloved. 



