INSECTS 



0. nigricornis quadripunctatus, 

 and the broad-winged, 0. lati- 

 pennis, are all trillers; that is, 

 their music consists of a long, 

 shrill whir kept up indefinitely. 

 Of these the broad-winged cricket 

 makes the loudest sound and the 

 one predominant near Washing- 

 ton. The black-horned is the 

 common triller farther north, and 

 is particularly a daylight singer. 

 In Connecticut his shrill note 

 rings everywhere along the road- 

 sides, on warm bright afternoons 

 of September and October, as the 

 player sits on leaf or twig fully 

 exposed to the sun. At this 

 season also, both the snowy and 

 the narrow-winged sing by day 

 but usually later in the after- 

 noon and generally from more concealed places. 



We should naturally like to know why these little 

 creatures are such persistent 

 singers and of what use their 

 music is to them. Do the males 

 really sing to charm and attract 

 the females as is usually pre- 

 sumed? We do not know; but 

 sometimes when a male is sing- 

 ing, a female approaches him 

 from behind, noses about on his 

 back, and soon finds there a deep 

 basinlike cavity situated just 

 behind the bases of the elevated 

 wings. This basin contains a 

 clear liquid which the female 

 proceeds to lap up very eagerly, 



[68] 



Fig. 40. A male of the broad- 

 winged tree cricket, Oecanthus 

 latipenniS) with wings elevated 

 in position of singing, seen from 

 above and behind, showing 

 the basin (B) on his back into 

 which the liquid is exuded that 

 attracts the female 



Fig. 41. The back of the 

 third thoracic segment of the 

 broad-winged tree cricket, 

 with its basin (B) that receives 

 secretion from the glands (G/) 

 inside the body 



