. Insects, their ways and means of living. Insects. 0. nigricornis quadripunctatus, and the broad-winged, 0. lati- pennis, are all trillers; that is, their music consists of a long, shrill whir kept up indefinitely. Of these the broad-winged cricket makes the loudest sound and the one predominant near Washing- ton. The black-horned is the common triller farther north, and is particularly a daylight singer. In Connecticut his shrill note rings everywhere along the road- sides, on warm bright afternoons of September and October, as the player sits on leaf or twig fully exposed to the sun. At thi
. Insects, their ways and means of living. Insects. 0. nigricornis quadripunctatus, and the broad-winged, 0. lati- pennis, are all trillers; that is, their music consists of a long, shrill whir kept up indefinitely. Of these the broad-winged cricket makes the loudest sound and the one predominant near Washing- ton. The black-horned is the common triller farther north, and is particularly a daylight singer. In Connecticut his shrill note rings everywhere along the road- sides, on warm bright afternoons of September and October, as the player sits on leaf or twig fully exposed to the sun. At this season also, both the snowy and the narrow-winged sing by day but usually later in the after- noon and generally from more concealed places. We should naturally like to know why these little creatures are such persistent singers and of what use their music is to them. Do the males really sing to charm and attract the females as is usually pre- sumed? We do not know; but sometimes when a male is sing- ing, a female approaches him from behind, noses about on his back, and soon finds there a deep basinlike cavity situated just behind the bases of the elevated wings. This basin contains a clear liquid which the female proceeds to lap up very eagerly, [68] Fig. 40. A male of the broad- winged tree cricket, Oecanthus latipenniS) with wings elevated in position of singing,seen from above and behind, showing the basin (B) on his back into which the liquid is exuded that attracts the female. Fig. 41. The back of the third thoracic segment of the broad-winged tree cricket, with its basin (B) that receives secretion from the glands (G/) inside the body. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Snodgrass, R. E. (Robert E. ), 1875-1962. New York Smithsonian Institution series
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsnodgrassrerobert, bookcentury1900, booksubjectinsects
