NOVEMBEE 1, 1895.] 



SGIENGE. 



591 



terial vehicle through which to act. . . . Like 

 the other energies of nature, It does not act 

 alone, etc." 



The critic says, p. 439 : ' ' Recent utterances 

 seem to show that all the criminals are not 

 among the materialists, and that the dogmatism 

 of biologists must be attacked at both ends of 

 the line." 



' ' In all seriousness we ask, what can funda- 

 mental disagreement among those who speak 

 with authority lead to except disaster? Are 

 we not bound to find first principles which will 

 command the assent of all thinking men ? ' ' 



I supposed it was an axiomatic truth that to 

 have agreement only one man must do the 

 thinking. However, progress has not been 

 most rapid under such circumstances in the 

 past. Perhaps, after all, the best possible anti- 

 dote to the whole criticism of Science or Poetry 

 is the review of Haeckel's Monism, entitled 

 ' The tyranny of the monistic creed ' (Science, 

 N. S., Vol. I., p. 382). There seems in this 

 review to be a protest against any one man set- 

 ting up as the sole possessor of true doctrine. 

 Here is one sentence from the review : ' ' He 

 (Haeckel) tells us all eminent and unprejudiced 

 men of science who have the courage of their 

 opinions think as he does." As the revicAver 

 did not take kindly to this tyranny of monism, 

 perhaps Haeckel would not include him among 

 the elect in science, but rather would count 

 him also among the poets. 



S. H. Gage. 



COENEEL UNR^EESITY. 



THE katydid's OECHESTEA. 



To THE Editoe of Science : The letter in 

 the September 20th issue, from Mr. George M. 

 Gould, seems to indicate that there is consider- 

 able ignorance concerning what are supposed 

 to be elementary facts in entomology ; and fur- 

 ther, that the letter was not submitted to Mr. 

 Scudder, the Entomological Editor, who is well 

 posted in this matter. Mr. Gould asks, "Is 

 Company A composed of males and Company 

 B of females ? ' ' The solution suggested is an 

 impossible one, because throughout the Orthop- 

 tera the females are mute and only the males 

 are provided with stridulating organs. Further- 

 more, in speaking of the ' Katydid, ' Mr. Gould 



seems not to be aware that we have at least a 

 dozen species to which this name is applied. 

 We have the ' Katydid ' which is Cyrtophylluvi 

 concavum, which is most generally described, 

 and which makes the typical ' Ka-ty-did ' or 

 ' Ka-ty-did' -nt ' sound. This species, I believe, 

 does not occur in North Carolina, and the in- 

 sect to whose sound Mr. Gould has listened was 

 quite a diflferent species from the one that 

 makes loud music in the Middle and Eastern 

 States. The members of the genera Microcen- 

 trum, Scudderia and Amblycorypha are all ' Katy- 

 dids,' all musicians, and each species has a dif- 

 ferent note. Some of the sounds made by the 

 Locustidse have been described and set to music 

 by Mr. Scudder, and as a matter of fact every 

 collector in this order soon learns to know, with 

 a fair degree of certainty, exactly what species 

 is making the sound. Mr. Gould's observations 

 are interesting ; but they will have very little 

 value until we know of what species he speaks. 

 It is quite certain that the true ' Katydid ' is not 

 the species intended. John B. Smith. 



EuTGEES College, New Beunswick, N. J., 



October 14, 1895. 



Professor Smith is of course correct in taking 

 Dr. Gould to task for suggesting that the female 

 katydid may stridulate, but it is not by any 

 means so sure that Cyrtophyllus (the true katy- 

 did) 'does not occur in North Carolina,' as be- 

 lieved by him ; on the contrary it is at least 

 highly probable that it does, for it is not only 

 found 'in the middle and eastern States,' as he 

 says, but has also been reported from Ken- 

 tucky (Garman), South Carolina (Saussure) and 

 Georgia (Brunner), as well as in the West from 

 Illinois to Texas. Professor Smith speaks as if 

 the other genera he mentions (which are errone- 

 ously called katydids) belonged in the same 

 group with Cyrtophyllus, whereas the last be- 

 longs to a different family (Pseudophyllidse) 

 and is indeed interesting as the only genus of 

 that family yet known in the United States, al- 

 though the family is richly represented in Cen- 

 tral and especially South America. 



The antiphonal rhythm of the two ' orchestras ' 

 mentioned by Dr. Gould is very interesting and 

 not altogether unlike what has been observed 

 among crickets ; but I am inclined to doubt the 



