THE LOCUST FAMILY. 
45 
wings, but when they alight and fold their wings be¬ 
neath their dust-brown wing-covers, it is not easy 
to see them. 
The diet of these insects is vegetable food. In 
some places they become a great pest, often de¬ 
vouring the entire crops in our western states; but 
in general they are not to be considered as harmful. 
The noise of these creatures is produced by 
drawing the long hairy tarsus across the wing when 
expanded. There are numerous rough processes 
on the wing-veins which, being caught by the 
tarsal barbs, cause a rapid vibration of the wing 
membrane. This produces the fa¬ 
miliar chirp of crickets and the well 
known “Katy did, Katy did” so 
often heard on summer evenings. 
CRICKETS. 
The crickets have much shorter 
bodies than those of the Grasshop¬ 
pers and Katydids. The family re¬ 
semblance it very strong however. 
The long antennae and large hind 
legs are characteristic of the family, 
but in the crickets the wings are far 
shorter than in the locustidae. 
The front legs are relatively stronger. This is 
because the cricket spends so much of its life digging 
under stones. Indeed, the mole-cricket, as it is 
called from its subterranean mode of life, has the 
