PIPERS AND MINNESINGERS 19 



The word "rasping" is peculiarly felicitous in this 

 description ; Elizabeth Akers used it also : — 



" The katydid with its rasping dry- 

 Made forever the same reply, 

 Which laughing voices would stUl deny." 



The katydids are near relatives to the meadow grass- 

 hoppers ; they live in trees and sing only in the even- 

 ing and night. Despite his heavy voice the katydid is 



Fig. 7. Katydid. 



a very shy insect ; the only sure way to find him is to 

 take a lantern and, guided by the sound, discover his 

 retreat while his attention is distracted by his quite dis- 

 tracting song. When found he is well worth looking at ; 

 he is dressed in pea-green; his wing-covers are so leaf- 

 like in form and color that it is no wonder he is invisible 

 when perched among the leaves. His face wears a very 

 solemn expression, but somewhere in it is a suggestion 

 of drollery, as if he could appreciate a joke ; he keeps 

 his long silken antennae waving in an inquiring way 



