Growing up in Mississippi, we did not have air conditioning or even fans, so at night all we heard were the night sounds. It was not until I became an adult living in the country that I heard the same sounds!

The sounds were from katydids, their rhythmic calls are among my favorite summertime reminiscences. These insects get their name from the song they sing. It sounds like, ‘Katy did, Katy didn’t,’ and repeats over and over. These insects make a chorus with the crickets starting in late summer in the evening.

Katydids are insects of the order orthoptera that are closely related to crickets. There are 6,400 species in the world, and 255 species in the United States. True katydids, false katydids, shield-backed katydids, meadow katydids and cone-headed katydids make up the 20 species in

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