ECOLOGY — INTERPRETATION OF E-NVIRONMENT 



Near the noon hour on the morning of September thirtieth, 

 as the sun became overcast by clouds, I was treated to a pretty 

 serenade by a host of males. Hidden in a dense thicket of 

 weeds, they started up their shrilling orchestration which they 

 continued at intervals. Beyond this spot their shrilling was 

 again heard in the open field planted with clover, but grown 

 over with a mixed wild herbage. After a little experience one 

 is quite easily led into the presence of these crickets by their 

 song, as the following incident will prove. At two-thirty in 

 the afternoon of October first, during the bright warm sunlight, 

 I heard what seemed to be a chorus of this species emanating 

 from a point quite a distance off. From the open field where I 

 stood I gradually traced the trills to a corner of an adjoining 

 unmowed field where the crickets appeared in abundance in 

 a small wild blackberry patch. On near approach some of 

 the songs ceased, but they soon commenced again when I stood 

 perfectly quiet. 



After nightfall, as well as in daytime, the high-pitched notes 

 of this cricket are uttered at regular intervals, sounding not 

 unhke the croaking of a frog, or a sparrow's notes when 

 heard at a distance. They are not so monotonous as those of 

 the large familiar black cricket, or so resonant as the notes of 

 the mole cricket. The concerts accompanying their social 

 gatherings may well be placed among the choicest of insect 

 orchestration. 



The male of this oecanthid possesses a remarkable mechanism 

 for alluring the female during the period of courtship. He 

 not only uses the pretty modified forewings, or tegmina, as 

 an artifice in attracting her, but he also brings into operation 

 a most peculiar device on the thorax between the wings. In 

 order to attract the female, the male, having approached 

 within her sight, commences his advances by elevating his 

 transparent wing-covers to a nearly vertical position. Then, 

 separating them so that their surfaces shufHe together in and 

 out, he produces a high-pitched shrilling for the female's 

 benefit. She in turn, being readily attracted by these notes, 

 moves towards him and, climbing on his tack, goes sufficiently 

 far forward that her attention is further drawn to the little 

 odd-shaped glandular cup on the back of the thorax between the 



