Vol. Xxii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 



37 



quaintance." The writer has not yet been able to distinguish 

 them this readily. 



Beneath the matted leaves and grass in damp spots and 

 gullies by the roadsides, and in low, wet grounds the little 

 Nemobius pahistris Blatchley, dwells. In such situations 

 small colonies of four or five individuals may be heard in 

 stridulation. The stridulation of this pretty Nemobius is a 

 faint, quavering, high pitched trill almost indistinguishable 

 from the trill of the more southern Nemobius janits Kirby. 

 The notes of these two species are so closely alike that the 

 writer thought he had heard N. palustris around Washington, 

 D. C. It proved to be the trill of TV. janus, however. Its weak 

 trill and the habit of keeping well concealed beneath stones 

 and leaves, together with its local and irregular distribution in 

 any locality have no doubt caused this little cricket to be many 

 times overlooked. In comparison with .V. fasciatus vittatus, it 

 is not an especially common species at Oxford, Mass. A 

 naturalist, however, familiar with its habits and stridulation 

 could capture a fair supply of specimens in this region. It is 

 a very shy cricket and can rarely be seen in stridulation. 



The writer has taken Ceuthophilus maculatus Harris, several 

 times at Oxford, Mass. Once or twice it was found deep down 

 in the crevices of a stone pile, and at other times in crannies 

 in covered wells. It is an unmusical insect. 



At Oxford, Mass., the big katydid, Cyrtophyllus pcrspicilla- 

 tus L., is not especially common judging from the numbers 

 heard in song at different localities. In some localities it is en- 

 tirely absent, especially in the West Oxford district. Each 

 year one or two small colonies may be heard in some big 

 maples on Mr. Howard's farm near Fort Hill. It is an ex- 

 ceedingly common and noisy insect in some big woods near 

 Quinnebaug, Connecticut. 



This katydid stridulates almost entirely after dark, although 

 its notes are sometimes heard during the day. There are few 

 insect stridulations as loud, rasping and grating as those of 

 Cyrtophyllus perspicillatus. It is not by any means an easy 



