From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stridulation \Strid`u*la"tion\, n.
The act of stridulating. Specifically: (Zool.)
(a) The act of making shrill sounds or musical notes by
rubbing together certain hard parts, as is done by the
males of many insects, especially by Orthoptera, such as
crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts.
(b) The noise itself.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The crickets stridulate by rubbing together the strong
nervures of the fore wings. Many grasshoppers
stridulate by rubbing the hind legs across strong
nervures on the fore wings. The green grasshoppers and
katydids stridulate by means of special organs at the
base of the fore wings.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
stridulation
n 1: a shrill grating or chirping noise made by some insects by
rubbing body parts together