334 NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



On August first, I found the first indiviidual, which had just 

 moulted for the last time, and on the fifth another was found 

 undergoing this process. Thereafter adults became quite 

 common. In the meadows it was often associated with the 

 allied Texan and pistillated species. It has a peculiar, wavy 

 flight as it skims quietly over the tops ?of the herbage some 

 distance away, to alight again, perhaps, upon some weed. 

 In the fall it becomes uneasy, and then is more prone to take 

 longer or shorter aerial migrations at night. At this time 

 they were sometimes attracted to the lantern light left out in 

 front of our door. 



Similarly, in searching for insects at night along fence rows, 

 I often came upon individuals of this species on the tall grasses, 

 goldenrods, bushes, and on the tops of fences. Here the males 

 were often heard giving out their musical sounds among the 

 chorus of striped meadow crickets and the oblong-wing species. 



Riley says: "The shrill of the male is by no means so loud 

 as that of the oblong-wing katydid, Amhlycorypha oblongifolia, 

 in which its sound is always drowned in the woods. It consists 

 of a softer zeep, seep, sometimes uttered singly, but generally 

 thrice in succession. The call is occasionally responded to 

 by a faint chirp from the female, produced by stretching out 

 its wings as if for flight, and is as often heard in the day as at 

 night." He further describes this species as laying her eggs 

 as follows: "The female stations herself firmly by the middle 

 and hind legs on twigs or leaves contiguous to the one selected 

 to receive the eggs. This leaf is then grasped by the front feet 

 and held in a vertical position, while the edge is slightly 

 gnawed or pared off by the jaws to facilitate the entrance of 

 the point of the ovipositor. When this is done, the abdomen 

 is curved under and brought forward, and the ovipositor is 

 seized on its convex edge by the mandibles and maxillae, which, 

 with the aid of the palpi, guide the point to that portion of 

 the leaf prepared to receive it. After gentle, but repeated 

 efforts, the point of the instrument is finally inserted between 

 the tissues of the leaf, and gradually pushed in to more than 

 half its length. 



"As soon as the cavity is formed, the egg is extruded, and passed 

 slowly between the semi-transparent blades of the ovipositor. 



