Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth EditionHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
History
Popular Official Guide to the New York Zoological Park (September 1915): Thirteenth Edition
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
New York Zoological Park
The collection of singing insects of the past summer was composed of the
meadow locust, greater and lesser cone-headed locust, the Katy-did,
broad-winged locust, field cricket, lesser field cricket, smooth-winged
cricket and two species of the tree crickets. There were about five
hundred specimens in the collection, and at times the noise made by them
was so great that visitors had to shout to one another to make their own
voices audible. The sounds coming from this collection varied according
to the time of day. It was late in the afternoon, when the larger
locusts commenced their singing (which continued throughout the night),
and inasmuch as the strictly diurnal species were yet active, the insect
chorus was quite vociferous.
It is only with considerable difficulty that singing insects are
collected. The best time to capture them is at night, when the collector
stalks the loudest singers, and by approaching within definite
investigating distance, can accurately locate the insects by bringing
into use an electric flash-lamp. The glare of the light usually causes
the insect to stop its calls, but it remains motionless upon a branch or
leaf and may be grasped with a delicate pair of forceps, provided the
movements of the collector’s arm are performed outside the rays of
light. If the locust has become silent and cannot be detected when the
light is thrown upon it, the collector simply switches off the light and
remains quiet. In a few minutes the creature continues its song, when
its exact location is again determined. In this way the night songsters
of a big meadow are collected, one by one, and the collector leaves
behind him a silent field that a few hours before resounded with the
stridulations of the insect chorus.
[Illustration: TARANTULA.]
[Illustration: RED-WINGED LOCUST.]
[Illustration: HERCULES BEETLE.]
Among the more interesting insects exhibited, in our series are to be
found the walking-stick, the praying mantis, the huge red-winged locust
of the South, the Egyptian scarab, the luminous beetle of Central and
South America, and broods of silk worm. The life history of the mosquito
will be permanently illustrated in a series of tanks, and adjoining
these an exhibit of natural enemies of these pests.
The insect collection is supplied with interesting descriptive labels.
During the latter part of spring it is removed from the Reptile House,
where, during the winter the number of its cages are much reduced, and
replaced in the quarters occupied during the summer.
INDEX.
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