Abstract
OnOn a visit to Beijing a number of years ago for a meeting, I left the conference center at midday for a bit of unguided exploration and wandered the streets of one of the city's commercial districts. In the midst of a fully paved and built-upon landscape, with not even the smallest garden in evidence, I heard what was unmistakably katydid (bushcricket) song. Summoning what remained of my ability to track high-frequency sound, a talent that had served me well previously in field work, I found the source: several singers, each caged individually and propped in a storefront where they were alternately calling and feeding on small slices of melon. I had, of course, read much about the “cricket culture” that had developed in China over several millennia and seen exhibits of the paraphernalia in art galleries and museums, but here I came face to face with the real thing. In Cricket Radio, John Himmelman captures the general appeal of singing insects such as I had witnessed in Beijing, and he offers us some information and ideas on how we can share in an interest that has brought aesthetic pleasure and spiritual solace, as well as a ready connection with the natural world, to many in various cultures [1]. Himmelman reminds us that beyond the butterflies and moths with their visual beauty, there are other groups of insects that can fascinate rather than repel, and his objective is to help us discover one of them.
Highlights
To aid our discovery, Himmelman offers us the basics on how and why these insects sing, includes considerable description of their general natural history— along with the overall classification of crickets and katydids and brief vignettes of the more common species in eastern North America—and introduces some information on the personalities who have been involved with singing insects over the course of history—beginning with antiquity
Studies of acoustic insects have occupied a central role in several topics in evolutionary biology, notably the influences of natural and sexual selection on male and female behaviors during courtship and mating, and the processes by which populations diverge and potentially form separate species
Some songs may serve as close-range courtship signals that influence the final mating decisions of females that have arrived in the vicinity of a calling male, as well as declarations of physical strength and ‘‘motivation’’ broadcast toward male rivals
Summary
Himmelman offers us the basics on how and why these insects sing, includes considerable description of their general natural history— along with the overall classification of crickets and katydids and brief vignettes of the more common species in eastern North America—and introduces some information on the personalities who have been involved with singing insects over the course of history—beginning with antiquity. Studies of acoustic insects have occupied a central role in several topics in evolutionary biology, notably the influences of natural and sexual selection on male and female behaviors during courtship and mating, and the processes by which populations diverge and potentially form separate species.
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