THE GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS 



more commonly than three, and the sounds were extremely 

 harsh and rasping, being a loud squa-wak 1 ', squa-wak', 

 squa-wak', the second syllable a little longer than the first. 

 This is not the case with those that sry ka-tv. When there 

 were three syllables the series was squa-wa-wak' . If all 

 New England katydids sing thus, it is not surprising that 

 some New England writers have failed to see how the 

 insects ever got the name of "katydid." Scudder says 

 "their notes have a shocking lack of melody"; he rep- 

 resents the sound by xr, and records that the song is 

 usually of only two syllables. "That is," he says, " they 

 rasp their fore wings twice rather than thrice; these 

 two notes are of equal (and extraordinary) emphasis, the 

 latter about one-quarter longer than the former; or if three 

 notes are given, the first and second are alike and a little 

 shorter than the last." 



When we listen to insects singing, the question always 

 arises of why they sing, and we might as well admit that 

 we do not know what motive impels them. It is prob- 

 ably an instinct with males to use their stridulating organs, 

 but in many cases the tones emitted are clearly modified by 

 the physical or emotional state of the player. The music 

 seems in some way to be connected with the mating of the 

 sexes, and the usual idea is that the sounds are attractive 

 to the females. With many of the crickets, however, the 

 real attraction that the male has for the female is a liquid 

 exuded on his back, the song apparently being a mere ad- 

 vertisement of his wares. In any case the ecstacies of love 

 and passion ascribed to male insects in connection with 

 their music are probably more fanciful than real. The 

 subject is an enchanted field wherein the scientist has 

 most often weakened and wandered from the narrow 

 path of observed facts, and where he has indulged in a free- 

 dom of imagination permissible to a poet or to a newspaper 

 reporter who wishes to enliven his chronicle of some event 

 in the daily news, but which does not contribute anything 

 substantial to our knowledge of the truth. 



[49] 



