THE GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS 



words, we might be shocked at the awful language he is 

 hurling at his rival. However, swearing is only a form of 

 emotional expression, and singing is another. Gryllus, 

 like an opera singer, simplv expresses all his emotions in 

 music, and, whether we can understand the words or not, 

 we understand the sentiment. 



At last one of the two caged rivals died; whether from 

 natural causes or by foul means was never ascertained. 

 He was alive early on the day of his demise but apparently 

 weak, though still intact. In the middle of the afternoon, 

 however, he lay on his back, his hind legs stretched out 

 straight and stiff; only a few movements of the front legs 

 showed that life was not yet quite extinct. One antenna 

 was lacking and the upper lip and adjoining parts of the 

 face were gone, evidently chewed off. But this is not neces- 

 sarily evidence that death had followed violence, for, in 

 cricketdom, violence more commonly follows death; that 

 is, cannibalism is substituted for interment. A few days 

 before, a dead female in the cage had been devoured 

 quickly, all but the skull. After the death of this male, 

 the remaining one no longer fiddled so often, nor with the 

 same sharp challenging tone as before. Yet this could not 

 be attributed to sadness; he had despised his rival and had 

 clearly desired to be rid of him; his change was due rather 

 to the lack of any special stimulus for expression. 



THE TREE CRICKETS 



The unceasing ringing that always rises on summer eve- 

 nings as soon as the shadows begin to darken, that shrill 

 melody of sound that seems to come from nothing but 

 from everywhere out of doors, is mostly the chorus of the 

 tree crickets, the blend of notes from innumerable harpists 

 playing unseen in the darkness. This sound must be the 

 most familiar of all insect sounds, but the musicians them- 

 selves are but little known to the general public. And 

 when one of them happens to come to the window or into 

 the house and plays in solo, the sound is so surprisingly 



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