INSECTS 



they would seem incapable of producing even those whis- 

 pering Nemobius notes. Most of the muscial instruments 

 of insects can be made to produce a swish, a creak, or a 

 grating noise of some sort when handled with our clumsy 

 fingers or with a pair of forceps, but only the skill of the 

 living insect can bring from them the tones and the volume 

 of sound they are capable of producing. 



Our best-known cricket is Gryllus, the black cricket 

 (Fig. 36), so common everywhere in fields and yards and 

 occasionally entering houses. The true house cricket of 

 Europe, Grvllus domesticus, has become naturalized in this 

 country and occurs in small numbers through the Eastern 

 States. But our common native species is Gryllus assimilis. 

 Entomologists distinguish several varieties, though they 

 are inclined to regard them all as belonging to the one 

 species. 



Mature individuals of Gryllus are particularly abundant 

 in the fall; in southern New England they appear every 

 year at this season by the millions, swarming everywhere, 

 hopping across the country roads in such numbers that it is 

 impossible to ride or walk without crushing them. Most 

 of the females lay their eggs in September and October, de- 

 positing them singly in the ground (Fig. 36 D, E) in the 

 same way that Nemobius does. These eggs hatch about 

 the first of June the following year. But at this same time 

 another group of individuals reaches maturity, a group 

 that hatched in midsummer of the preceding year and 

 passed the winter in an immature condition. The males of 

 these begin singing at Washington during the last part of 

 May, in Connecticut the first of June, and may be heard 

 until the end of June. Then there is seldom any sound of 

 Gryllus until the middle of August, when the males of the 

 spring group begin to mature. From now on their notes 

 become more and more common and by early fall they are 

 to be heard almost continuously day and night until frost. 



The notes of Gryllus are always vivacious, usually cheer- 

 ful, sometimes angry in tone. They are merely chirps, and 



F60I 



