Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/97

 GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS

another place farther off. Finally, though, it strikes the ear with such intensity that there can be no mistaking the source ofits origin, and, right there in plain sight on a leaf sits a little, delicate, slim-legged, pale-green insect with hazy, transparent sails outspread above its back. But can such an insignificant creature be making such a deafen- ing sound! It has required very cautious tactics to ap- proach thus close without stopping the music, and it needs but a touch on stem or leaf to make it cease. But now those gauzy sails that before were a blurred vignette have acquired a definite outline, and a little more disturbance may cause them to be lowered and spread fiat on the creature's back. The music will not begin anew until you have passed a period of silent waiting. Then, suddenly, the lacy films go up, once more their outlines blur, and that intense scream again pierces your ear. In short, you are witnessing a private performance of the broad-winged tree cricket, Oecanthus latipennis. But if you pay attention to the notes of other singers, you will observe that there is a variety of airs in the medley gomg on. Many notes are long trills like the one just identified, lasting indefinitely; but others are softer purr- ing sounds, about two seconds in length, while still others are short beats repeated regularly a hundred or more times every minute. The last are the notes of the snowy tree cricket, Oecanthus niveus, so-called on account of his pale- ness. He is really green in color, but a green of such a very pale shade that he looks almost white in the dark. The male (Fig. 37) is a little longer than hall an inch, his wings are wide and fiat, overlapping when folded on the back, with the edges turned down against the sides of the body. The female is heavier-bodied than the male, but her wings are narrow, and when folded are furled along the back. She has a long ovipositor for inserting her eggs into the bark of trees. The males of the snowy cricket reach maturity and begin to sing about the middle of July. The singer raises his

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INSECTS