Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/76

 words the public can understand. And if simplicity be the test of true art, the song of the katydid stands the test, for nothing could be simpler than merely katy-did, or its easy variations, such as katy, katy-she-did, and katy-didn't.

Yet though the music of the katydid is known by ear or by reputation to almost every native American, few of us



are acquainted with the musician himself. This is because he almost invariably chooses the tops of the tallest trees for his stage and seldom descends from it. His lofty platform, moreover, is also his studio, his home, and his world, and the reporter who would have a personal interview must be efficient in tree climbing. Occasionally, though, it happens that a singer may be located in a smaller tree where access to him is easier or from which he may be dislodged by shaking. A specimen, secured in this way on August 12, lived till October 18 and furnished material for the following notes:

The physical characters of the captive and some of his attitudes are shown in Figures 24 and 25. His length is 1¾ inches from the forehead to the tips of the folded wings; the front legs are longer and thicker than in most other members of the family, while the hind legs are unusually short. The antennae, though, are extremely long, slender, and very delicate filaments, 2$13/16$ inches in length.