There is another slight difficulty about
this matter. Though the chirping of the
out-of-door crickets is practically synchro-
nous, so that for many minutes they are
all absolutely in time, so far as the ear
can reach out into the night, they do occa-
sionally get out of step. For two or three
seconds their chorus is in rag-time, or
askew; but in another moment they come
into step again, and the full burst of the
thing - chirp, chirp, chirp - is as measured
as if it were timed by a metronome. This
for a considerable time; then chee-chirp,
chee-chirp, chee-chirp - they are out again.
Now if the rate of the chirping were abso-
lutely regulated by the temperature, it
would seem that all the crickets within a
comparatively limited out-of-door area
would chirp perfectly and continuously in 
time. Possibly the crickets vary a trifle in
recording the temperature, as the thermo-
meters themselves do.