Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos

Book excerpt: From Mount Washington to the salt marshes of Cape Cod, a chorus of insects chirrups and peeps and rustles away the golden hours of summer and fall. In Crickets and Katydids, Vincent G. Dethier invites us to share in the pleasure offered by these tiny musicians in our midst. A companion volume to G. W. Pierce's 1948 classic Songs of Insects this book introduces amateur naturalism and lovers of nature to some of the more common singing crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers of the northeastern United States. Dethier emphasizes the "world" of these insects and their place in it. He presents us with a captivating glimpse of the ecology of the singing Orthoptera, the conditions under which they are studied, and the people who have studied them. For those who wish to delve more deeply into the classification, structure, and habits of particular species, Dethier includes keys for identification of insects and their songs, as well as a table of seasonal distribution. His graceful text is adorned with fine drawings of insects by Abigail Rorer. Though always softly with us, the insect's timeless song is only vaguely known and little understood. Bringing a natural historian's appreciation to this mysterious facet of nature, Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos will be a source of instruction and delight, an enhancement of the pleasure and fascination afforded by the natural world in miniature.