68 SCIENCE 
for a certain period, followed by a brief pause 
before the performance is repeated. The notes 
of the members of the particular colony located 
near Spring Hill appeared to be rather louder 
than the notes of some individuals of this 
species which I have heard elsewhere. 
On the evening of August 21, I again visited 
this colony, the individuals of which were just 
beginning their usual nocturnal stridulations. 
While listening to their rather harsh, un- 
musical phrases, a loud, musical chirping 
started up, low down in the herbage and un- 
derbrush nearby. It was similar to the ehirp- 
ing notes of a cricket, and possessed the true 
tonal quality characteristic of the notes of 
such erickets as are found in the genera, 
Gryllus, icanthus, or Orocharis. I was ac- 
tually somewhat startled by the loud, un- 
familiar chirping, for I could not think of any 
species of cricket in this locality which I had 
not determined. After a careful search with a 
pocket flashlight, I located the musician, 
which, much to my surprise, proved to be the 
eone-headed grasshopper (N. Failiscanorus). 
With the exception of the acquired cricket-like, 
musical pitch or tonal quality, the notes were 
delivered in a manner typically characteristic 
of this cone-headed grasshopper. I captured 
the insect and compared its tegmina with the 
tegmina of individuals stridulating in the 
normal manner, but could determine no par- 
ticular differences in the stridulating field or 
the stridulating veins. A microscopic exami- 
nation of the character of the teeth of the 
stridulating vein revealed nothing which could 
be considered responsible for the unusual 
character of stridulation. 
Tt has always been a mystery to me why the 
erickets as a class produce stridulations char- 
acterized by the musical qualities of pitch and 
timbre, while the majority of the musical 
Orthoptera produced only lisping or harsh, 
strident, unmusical sounds such as are char- 
acteristic of the species of Conocephalus, Or- 
chelimum, Neoconocephalus, Atlanticus, Am- 
blycorypha, Pterophylla, ete. The question of 
the origin and evolution of the musical im- 
pulse as a dominant feature in the develop- 
ment of the Orthoptera must ever excite the 
[N. S. Vou. XLVIII. No. 1229 
mind to wonder. In this class of insects, 
sound has become an almost constant and ir- 
repressible feature of their lives. How did the 
tonal quality become acquired and why is it so 
constantly associated with the crickets? It is 
evident that this more musical quality may 
arise suddenly in the individuals of a species 
which normally produce only “noise,” so to 
speak, as in the case of the cone-headed grass- 
hopper mentioned. Jf such a change were as- 
sociated with the germinal constitution so that 
it became a transmissible feature and not a 
merely accidental or temporary individual fea- 
ture, it would suggest how a musical, cricket- 
like chirp could arise from a mere rasping note 
or “noise,” and persist as a racial feature. If 
this were true, the sudden acquirement of the 
character would be in the nature of a muta- 
tion or discontinuous variation, and it is pos- 
sible that evolutionary steps of this sort have 
actually occurred in the specialized develop- 
ment of stridulatory powers the 
Orthoptera. 
among 
H. A. Atiarp 
WASHINGTON, D, C. 
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 
Field Book of Insects. With Special Refer- 
ence to those of Northeastern United States. 
Aiming to Answer Common Questions. By 
Frank E. Lutz, PhD. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons. ix-+ 509 pp. 101 plates. 
The text-books dealing with American in- 
sects are all excellent but are comprehensive 
and prepared for the use of students and ad- 
vanced workers. None of them, however, cover 
just the field of the present volume. In Eu- 
ropean countries, where there are many more 
persons interested in the collection and study 
of insects than in America, a large number of 
small well-illustrated volumes are available, 
where the collector can identify his specimens 
as well as obtain information regarding their 
habits. These volumes are of such size that 
they can be slipped in the pocket and taken 
into the field for ready reference. There are 
“Field Books” dealing with American plants 
and birds, but this is the first one dealing with 
insects. 
