THE KATY-DID. 
157 
their piercer is shorter and often more curved, than in the 
foregoing kinds. They do not lay their eggs in the ground, 
but deposit them upon branches and twigs, in regular rows. 
My attention was first directed to the eggs of the tree-grylli 
by Mr. F. C. Hill, late of Philadelphia. 
Some of these grasshoppers have the front of the head 
obtuse, and others have it conical, or prolonged to a point 
between the antenna;. Among the former is the insect 
which, from its peculiar note, is called the katy-did. Its 
body is of a pale green color, the wing-covers and wings 
being somewhat darker. Its thorax is rough like shagreen, 
and has somewhat the form of a saddle, being curved down- 
wards on each side, and rounded and slightly elevated behind, 
and is marked by two slightly transverse furrows. The 
wings arc rather shorter than the wing-covers, and the latter 
are very large, oval, and concave, and enclose the body with- 
in their concavity, meeting at the edges above and below, 
somewhat like the two sides or valves of a pea-pod. The 
veins are large, very distinct, and netted like those of some 
leaves, and there is one vein of larger size running along the 
middle of each wing-cover, and simulating the midrib of a 
leaf. The musical organs of the male consist of a pair of 
taborets. They are formed by a thin and transparent mem- 
brane stretched in a strong half-oval frame in the triangular 
overlapping portion of each wing-cover. During the daytime 
these insects are silent, and conceal themselves among the 
leaves of trees ; but at night they quit their lurking-places, 
and the joyous males begin the tell-tale call with which they 
enliven their silent mates. This proceeds from the friction 
of the taboret frames against each other when the wing-covers 
are opened and shut, and consists of two or three distinct 
notes almost exactly resembling articulated sounds, and cor- 
responding with the number of times that the wing-covers 
are opened and shut ; and the notes are repeated at intervals 
of a few minutes, for hours together. The mechanism of the 
taborets, and the concavity of the wing-covers, reverberate 
