332 



NATtiRE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



The Home of the Forked- 

 tail Katydid and its 



Allies 



T the edge of the forest the 

 margin slopes gently to the 

 meadow lands adjoining. Here 

 the masses of foliage are so 

 /' adjusted that the relations of the leaves to 



the lighl are most perfectly displayed. The 

 lofty hard maple, the oak, liasswood, and elm 

 would end very aliruptly were it not for the natural setting 

 given by smaller trees, which are mingled with black cherry 

 and young butternut. Blending with the latter, liut still 

 farther to the outside, are the sassafras and sumach, which 

 grow to tree-like proportions, shown in the landscape view 

 that I have drawn here. Lastly, the sweet-smelling elder- 

 berry bushes appear at the outskirts, forming the skirmish 

 line between the straggling flora of meadow and forest. 



In July the flowers of these bushes fill the air with an abun- 

 dance of sweet perfume, attracting myriads of insects for their 

 own selfi.sh needs, while at the same lime deligliling ihe teslhetic 

 sense of man. Placed in with excpiisite effect, their large white 

 flower heads, together with the red flowers of the sumach, offer 

 a finish which sets all artificial attempts of portrayal at defiance. 

 The open meadow, that I have depicted in the foreground of the 

 landscape drawing, shows the home of the forked-tail katydid. 

 Here too the Texan, round wing, together with the slender 

 meadow grasshoppers, dwell in abundance. 



The exquisite forked-tail katydid, shown in the plate pho- 

 tographic illustration, is one of the smallest and daintiest of 

 our species of Scudderia. Its deep green color harmonizes so 

 closely with the background of gi-eeii foliage that it, escapes 

 one's attention as il sLealthily moves about or feeds among 

 the l)uslies at the margins of the woods. It is one of the com- 

 monest insects in the damp meadows during the time it arrives 

 at maturity, about the first to the second week in August. 



