MEADOW SINGERS. 101 



entomological error by accusing the particular insect 

 which he heard of being a female with a quivering, 

 trilling voice ! But in this ease, the truth is, the 

 male insects do all the disputing. The katydid's 

 voice is too familiar to need comment or description 

 here. The tones are harsh and uttered in triplets like 

 detached bits of the cicada's zee-e-e-e-e (the locust), 

 but the method by which the noise is produced is 

 curious. In the upper portion of each green wing 

 cover, near the point where it is joined to the body, 

 just where it overlaps the other, is a glassy foi'mation 

 set in a sort of frame ; as the insect opens and shuts 

 its wing covers, these frames strike each other, and 

 the result is the sig-sig-zig which we know so well. 

 On or about the first of September the wooded slopes 

 of the Highlands of Navesink resound with the quar- 

 relsome voices of these curious insects ; in the "White 

 Mountains I do not recollect of having heard even 

 a single disputer " having it all his own way." 



There are two common species of the katydid, 

 the one above described being the most abundant in 

 the l^orthern States ; it is usually called the angular- 

 winged katydid. The other species, also common in 

 the Central and Eastern States, is named Cijrtophyl- 

 lus concamis ; its wing covers are longer than its 

 wings, and they are broadly convex. 



The so-called grasshopper with very sho; t feel- 



