154 
ORTHOPTERA. 
may be called climbing crickets, from their habit of mounting 
upon plants and dwelling among the leaves and flowers. 
According to M. Salvi,* the female makes several perfora¬ 
tions in the tender stems of plants, and in each perforation 
thrusts two eggs quite to the pith. The eggs are hatched 
about midsummer, and the young immediately issue from 
their nests and conceal themselves among the thickest foliage 
of the plant. When arrived at maturity the males begin 
their nocturnal serenade at the approach of twilight, and 
continue it with little or no intermission till the dawn of day. 
Should one of these little musicians get admission to the 
chamber, his incessant and loud shrilling will effectually 
banish sleep. Of three species which in¬ 
habit the United States, one only is found 
in Massachusetts. It is the CEcanthus ni- 
veus (Fig. 71), or white climbing cricket. 
The male is ivory-white, with the up¬ 
per side of the first joint of the antennse, 
and the head between the eyes, of an 
ochre-yellow color; there is a minute black 
dot on the under sides of the first and 
second joints of the antennae; and in some 
individuals the extremities of the feet and the under sides 
of the hindmost thighs are ochre-yellow. The body is 
about half an inch long, exclusive of the wing-covers. The 
female (Fig. 72) is usuallv 
rather longer, but the wing- 
covers are much narrower 
than those of the male, and 
there is a great diversity of 
coloring in this sex; the body being sometimes almost white, 
or pale greenish-yellow, or dusky, and blackish beneath. 
There are three dusky stripes on the head and thorax, and 
the legs, antennae, and piercer are more or less dusky or 
blackish. The wing-covers and wings are yellowish-white, 
* Memorie intorno le Locuste grillajole. 8vo, Verona, 1750. 
Fig. 71. 
