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Crickets — Part 2

Harrington has watched one of these concerts closely and says, "An interesting feature of its concerts is one of which I have not been able to find any mention in books accessible. While the male is energetically shuffling together his wings, raised almost vertically, the female may be seen standing just behind him, and with her head applied to the base of the wings evidently eager to get the full benefit of every note produced."

Even the curious cave crickets of the genus Ceuthophilus have a song. But they sing only by night and in cloudy weather. C. ensiger makes five notes per second and these have been recorded by Scudder as follows:

Why has no one ever worked up a full life history, with all of its interesting details, of one of our commonest crickets? It is earnestly to be hoped that some good observer will answer this conundrum with the following words: "Because it has been left for me to do, and I purpose to do it as soon as possible."