462 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [ Dec., 712 
this nature. Several species of katydids have been observed 
to vary their characteristic notes from time to time. Scudder 
reports a few instances, including Stenobothrus curtipennis 
Harris and Scudderia curvicauda DeG. The writer’s obser- 
vations include Scudderia texensis S. & P., Amblycorypha 
rotundifolia Scudd. and Amblycorypha uhleri Brunner. 
The usual note of Scudderia texensis is a soft, shuffling 
note, sh-sh-sh-sh-sh, at other times the call becomes a sharp, 
rasping, zeet-zeet-zeet-zeet, which usually calls forth a similar 
response from the others within hearing. The writer first 
studied these notes at Oxford, Mass., in September, 1910.* 
These modifications apparently were quite independent of ap- 
preciable differences of sunshine, shadow, etc. 
The stridulations of Amblycorypha rotundifolia may con- 
sist of brief, soft, shuffling phrases, sh-sh-sh-sh, repeated at 
intervals. At other times the notes become more lisping and 
continuous, tsip-i-tsip-i-tsip-i-tsip. The different call notes 
of this katydid are very similar to those of the smaller Ambly- 
corypha uhleri. The notes of the latter at times consist of a 
rapid, silken, shuffling sound, sh-sh-sh-sh, occasionally re- 
peated. At other times the notes become brief, staccato lisps, 
i-tsip-i-tsip-i-tsip, followed by the usual phrases sh-sh-sh-sh. 
Abrupt modifications of this sort nearly always get a similar 
response from other individuals.+ 
In a study of the stridulations of Orthoptera it is important 
that the careful observer should avoid the conclusion that a 
certain species has but a single note. It is evident that a 
number of species are capable of modifying their stridulations 
considerably at will. In some instances it appears that these 
particular calls bear some unknown relation to changes in 
environmental conditions. It is highly probable that they are 
often more or less vitally connected with certain obscure social | 
relationships of the species. 
*“The Musical Habits of Some New England Orthopters in Sep- 
tember,”’ in Entomological News, Vol. XXII. 
‘+“The Stridulations of Some ‘Katydids,’” in Proceedings of the 
Biological Society of Washington, Vol. XXIII, rgro. 
