KATYDIDS AND THEIR KIN. 231 



from which the following extract is taken : " Some 

 leaves of plum infested with a delicate species of yel- 

 low aphis were put into a jar with the young of 

 (Ecanthus nivem, but attracted no immediate atten- 

 tion. As twilight deepened, however, the crickets 

 awakened to greater activity o By holding the jar 

 against the light of the window, or bringing it 

 suddenly into the lamp light, the little nocturnal 

 hunters might be seen hurrying with a furtive, 

 darting movement over the leaves and stems, the 

 head bent down, the antennae stretched forward, 

 and every sense apparently on the alert. Then the 

 aphides provided for their food would be caught up 

 one after another with eagerness and devoured with 

 violent action of the mouth parts, the antennae mean- 

 while playing up and down in evident expression of 

 satisfaction. Unless I had provided very liberally not 

 an aphis would be found in the jar the next morning, 

 and the sluggish crickets would have every appear- 

 ance of plethora." 



ACRIDID^E. 



The common things about us, those which we meet 

 in our every-day life, are usually those of which we 

 know the least. Everybody knows a grasshopper by 

 sight. How many can describe the salient points in 

 its life history, can tell of the many devices which it 

 uses to avoid its enemies, or of the many ways in 

 which its organs have become adapted to or fitted for 

 the life it leads ? Yet any one interested in the objects 

 of nature can soon learn these and other similar facts 



