cricket
In most of the United States of America, cricket is an insect that makes an annoying sound by rubbing its limbs* together.
*far more information than necessary follows, feel free to skip. "Most male crickets make a loud chirping sound by stridulation (scraping two specially textured limbs together). The stridulatory organ is located on the tegmen, or fore wing, which is leathery in texture. A large vein runs along the centre of each tegmen, with comb-like serrations on its edge forming a file-like structure, and at the rear edge of the tegmen is a scraper. The tegmina are held at an angle to the body and rhythmically raised and lowered which causes the scraper on one wing to rasp on the file on the other. The central part of the tegmen contains the "harp", an area of thick, sclerotinized membrane which resonates and amplifies the volume of sound, as does the pocket of air between the tegmina and the body wall. Most female crickets lack the necessary adaptations to stridulate, so make no sound.[5]
Several types of cricket songs are in the repertoire of some species. The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near and encourages her to mate with the caller. A triumphal song is produced for a brief period after a successful mating, and may reinforce the mating bond to encourage the female to lay some eggs rather than find another male.[6] An aggressive song is triggered by contact chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the presence of another male cricket.[7]
Crickets chirp at different rates depending on their species and the temperature of their environment. Most species chirp at higher rates the higher the temperature is (about 62 chirps a minute at 13 ยฐC (55 ยฐF) in one common species; each species has its own rate). The relationship between temperature and the rate of chirping is known as Dolbear's law. According to this law, counting the number of chirps produced in 14 seconds by the snowy tree cricket, common in the United States, and adding 40 will approximate the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.[6]
The calling song of a field cricket
In 1975, Dr. William H. Cade discovered that the parasitic tachinid fly Ormia ochracea is attracted to the song of the cricket, and uses it to locate the male to deposit her larvae on him. It was the first known example of a natural enemy that locates its host or prey using the mating signal.[8] Since then, many species of crickets have been found to be carrying the same parasitic fly, or related species. In response to this selective pressure, a mutation leaving males unable to chirp was observed amongst a population of field crickets on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, enabling these crickets to elude their parasitoid predators.[9] A different mutation with the same effect was also discovered on the neighboring island of Oahu (ca. 100 miles (160 km) away).[10]" Courtesy (?) of Wickopedia
It is probable that this much information is entirely unnecessary, but is attached to urge readers not to explain how the game, cricket, is played. There is a theory that cricket has evolved into an American game called baseball. How to play that is also not necessary to post. There are a few stories on the site that go into details about bats and balls and base running and all the other details. The site has search features to allow readers to find stories that talk about it in great detail, unnecessary detail, in my opinion. I threaten to discuss how to play Avalon Hill games if anyone decides to explain either cricket or baseball or how they differ.
