THE MONSTERS OF OUR BACK YARDS 



583 



be made of these insects' skeletons, pho- 

 tographed large enough so that we could 

 see and study them ! 



A GREEN GRASSHOPPER (Dickromorplia 

 Z'iviilis), PAGE 580 



Whether this creature has a person- 

 ality or not may be forever extremely 

 difficult for humans to decide. Its eyes 

 that look like cows eyes really cast a 

 thousand images on a special kind of 

 brain, so different from our own that we 

 cannot untlerstand it, and then besides 

 these great big eyes it has three others 

 scarcely visible in the picture. Its short- 

 ringed horns are not horns at all, but 

 sense organs of so complicated a nature 

 that we do not yet know certainly 

 whether they are organs of smell or not. 

 and it is supposed that they may be the 

 seat of sense organs that we humans do 

 not have. 



In front of the great thighs embedded 

 on each side of the body, but hidden in 

 the picture by the second leg, are the so- 

 called ears, tuned no doubt to catch vi- 

 brations of the air far too delicate or 

 too frequent for our ears. 



The jumping legs of the creature are 

 filled with powerful muscles, which 

 when they expand can hurl it through 

 the air and enable it to escape from its 

 enemies. On the inner side, along the 

 lower rib of the wing, is the musical in- 

 strument. It is a row of hard, bead-like 

 projections, which are very highly de- 

 veloped in the males, but not at all in the 

 females. \\'hen the edge of the wing is 

 scraped over these projections, a musical 

 sound is made. It would seem to be the 

 case, as with so many of the birds, that 

 only the male can sing, the female being 

 mute. 



THE K.MVDiD {Scuddcria fiircata). 

 I 'AGE 581 



How marvelously equipped such a 

 creature as this is to live! The great 

 eyes, with many facets, enable it to see 

 by night as well as by day. Its long, 

 slender antenucC catch the faintest odor, 

 and probably are sensitive to a host of 

 perfumes that we do not know. In the 

 front of each fore leg, just below the 



knee, is a dark sunken area, the ear, with 

 which it can probably hear sounds too 

 faint for our cars, and by moving them 

 can tell from which direction the sounds 

 come. Its long muscular legs enable it 

 to jump great distances, and its wings 

 not only enable it to fly well, but in the 

 males are provided with an apparatus 

 near their base for making a musical 

 sound. 



In fact, if it is any comfort for sleep- 

 less ones to know it, the katydid is one 

 of the noisiest creatures of its size in the 

 world. It is only the males which call 

 their •"Katy-did, Katy-didn't, she did, 

 she didn't," and they are calling to their 

 mates. 



THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH (Gryllus 



Pcnnsylvanicus) , page 582 



Through the ages, who knows if not 

 from the times of the cave dwellers, this 

 friendly visitor of the fireside has rubbed 

 his rough wings together over his head 

 and sung man to sleep. The European 

 form seems quite as domesticated as the 

 cat or dog, leading nowhere a truly wild 

 life, and it may be questioned whether 

 any living creature has become more a 

 part of human life than the cricket on 

 the hearth. 



The carrying power of their song is 

 extraordinary ; there are species whose 

 strident notes can be heard for a mile, 

 although their little bodies are scarcely 

 more than an inch in length. The males 

 alone are musical, and it is reasonable 

 to suppose, since the females have ears 

 in their fore legs, that they are singing 

 to their mates and not to mankind. 



As one listens to their friendly song it 

 is hard to appreciate what fighters they 

 are among themselves, the larger ones 

 even turning cannibals when food is 

 scarce, although a glance at the photo- 

 gra])h shows how well equipj)cd they are 

 for battle. Their great black eyes only 

 shinier black than their coal-black ar- 

 mored necks, their jointed palpi with 

 which they feed themselves, their thick, 

 leathery wings pressed against their sides 

 like a box cover, and their strong, mus- 

 cular spiny hind legs, with which they 

 jump a hundred times their own length, 



