AIKCHANISM OF INSECT MUSIC. 219 



But besides the sensations of involuntary pleasure which we 

 have often owed,, without knowing it, to Insect Minstrelsy,, it 

 affords (though on this subject few perhaps ever think) mat- 

 ter for thought-inquiry, concerning the way in which it is 

 produced. It is all of an instrumental and not vocal character ; 

 and,, among the varied mechanisms of natural objects, the 

 instruments of sound furnished to insect musicians are none 

 of the least curious. 



That of the celebrated Cicada (the classic lyre player) an 

 insect rarely seen in England, but still common in the south of 

 Europe, consists, as described by Eeaumer, of a pair of drums 

 fixed one on each side of the trunk ; these are covered on the 

 exterior by two membranaceous plates, usually circular or oval ; 

 and beneath them is a cavity, part of which seems to open into 

 the belly. These drums form however but one portion of a 

 compound instrument ; for besides these, there is attached to 

 another drum-like membrane in the interior a bundle of 

 muscular strings ; on pulling which, and letting them go again, 

 a sound can be produced even after the animal's death. For 

 the issue of this sound a hole is expressly provided, like 

 the sound-hole of a violin, or the opening in the human 

 larynx. 



The chirp of the cricket, both of house and field, is said, by 

 Kirby, to be produced by the friction of the bases of the 

 tegmina, or wing-cases, against each other, at their base; but 

 these insects are also provided with their drums. In the 



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