104 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



the base with an irregular-shaped frame work, with a drum- 

 like covering of transparent chitinous material stretched over 

 it. The upper, or left-hand wing, as viewed from above, has 

 underneath, in front of the membranous covering, a curved 

 file with fine elevations. A sharp ridge at the inner margin 

 of the opposite drum plays over the file' when the wings are 

 shuflBed together, giving rise to the very effective "katy-did." 



This insect possesses a stronger stridulatory apparatus than 

 his smaller neighbors. His arboreal h.abits necessitate his 

 sound being heard a long distance away. He does not invariably 

 take the initiative in opening the whole insect and frog chorus 

 as evening comes on. The little thin- voiced crickets of several 

 species, hidden away in the darker recesses, or even the green 

 meadow grasshoppers and narrow-winged katydids, with the 

 host of other members of this group, may jprecede him, but they 

 are sure to be joined at the proper moment by the Mozart of 

 them all. 



Among our household treasures one fall season was an angu- 

 lar winged katydid who always led the evening prelude of those 

 in the vivarium, but he was usually awakened to activity by 

 first hearing the out-of-door musicians. When once the shrilUng 

 was started, first one, then another, came the succession of 

 night sounds, each one of the insects at intervals trying to 

 outdo the others, the medley being kept up until the light of 

 morning. 



One time in September, I observed one of these insects laying 

 her eggs. When found, she was at a point five feet above the 

 ground on the bark of a large scarlet oak, with her ovipositor 

 wedged into the side of a strip of bark. She worked there 

 some minutes, pushing and moving her body in an attempt to 

 bury this organ farther into the side of the bark. Her body 

 rested on its side against the bark surface, cramping the left 

 foreleg so that it was stretched out on the corresponding side 

 ahead of the body. The eggs of this katydid are about one- 

 quarter of an inch in length, or about twice their breadth. 

 They are pointed at each end, dark, bark-colored, and often 

 laid in small series, sometimes compactly crowded together 

 in the crevice of the bark. When the young hatch in the 

 early summer, they climb up the trunk and feed on the 



