THE GRASSHOPPER'S COUSINS
by the female. In fact the liquid is so attractive to her that, at least in a cage, she is sometimes so persistent in her efforts to obtain it that the male is clearly annoyed and tries to avoid her. One male was observed to say very distinctly by his actions, as he repeatedly tried to escape the nibbling of a female, presumably his wife since she was taken with him when captured, "I do wish you would quit pestering me and let me sing!" Here is another piece of evidence suggesting that the male cricket sings to express his own emotions, whatever they may be, and not primarily to attract the female. But if, as in the case of the tree crickets, his music tells the female where she may find her favorite confection, and this in turn leads to matrimony, when the male is in the proper mood, it suggests a practical use and a reason for the stridulating apparatus and the song of the male insect.
Fig. 43. The common walking stick insect, Diapheromera femorata, of the eastern part of the United States. (Length 2½ inches)
Walking-Sticks and Leaf Insects
Talent often seems to run in families, or in related families, but it does not necessarily express itself in the same way. If the katydids and crickets are noted musicians, some of their relatives, belonging to the family Phasmidae, are incomparable mimics. Their mimicry, however, is not a conscious imitation, but is one bred in their bodily forms through a long line of ancestors.
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