Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson LXXXI · Topic 11: Grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches
81. The katydid optional
Goal: Your child can recognize the katydid's song at night, find one, and compare it with the grasshopper and the cricket.
You'll need
- A late-summer evening near trees
- A flashlight
- A clear jar with leaves (for a short look)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
Comstock's story of the katydid, with a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes: how the male makes his music with one file and one scraper on his wing-covers, and how the females answer. Lesson LXXXI is short: a leading thought and a method that sends you back to the grasshopper and cricket lessons for the questions. The essay on the black crickets follows.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Late summer and early fall, after dark, in yards and woods with trees. Listen for the rasping "katy-did, katy-didn't" from the treetops.
Keep the big idea in mind
Comstock's "leading thought" is the one idea the lesson is meant to lead to. Read it to yourself now, and save it to share at the end, after your child has looked and answered:
The katydids resemble the long-horned grasshoppers and the crickets. They live in trees, and the male sings "katy-did" by means of a musical instrument similar to that of the cricket.
A listening walk
Go out after dark and stand still for two minutes.
SayHow many different insect songs can you hear? Which one sounds like "katy-did"?
Try to walk toward one singer. Katydids are hard to find because they stop when you come near.
Find one
Katydids are green and leaf-shaped. Look on leaves near a porch light or on low branches with the flashlight. If you find one, let it climb onto a leaf and put it in the jar for a short look.
Comstock's method for this lesson says:
In studying this insect, use the lesson on the red-legged grasshopper and also that on the cricket.
Compare
Ask the grasshopper questions you remember: Which legs are longest? Where are the eyes? How long are the antennæ?
Then compare: the grasshopper's antennæ are short, but the katydid's are longer than its body. The katydid's ears are on its front legs, near the "elbow" (Comstock's drawing in the grasshopper lesson shows one).
Let it go on the same branch.
Put it into words
Ask your child: How is a katydid like a grasshopper? How is it different? Then read the leading thought aloud.
Nature notebook
Draw the katydid on a leaf, showing how its wings look like a leaf, with its long antennæ. Write the date, the time, and how many katydids you heard.