PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 24, NO. 7-8, OCT. -NOV., 1922 189 



of created beings, absolutely devoid of harm or potential injury, 

 as expressed by Cowley: 



"Happy insect! what can be 



In happiness compared to thee? 



***** 



Man for thee does sow and plow; 

 Farmer he and landlord thou! 

 Thou dost innocently joy; 

 Nor does thy luxury destroy." 

 . indcreontics, 



Cowper sings in the same strain: 



"Herald of the genial hours, 

 Harming neither herbs nor flowers. 

 Therefore man thy voice attends 

 Gladly thou and he are friends. 



A clue to the mystery is given by Dr. Frank Cowan, 1 who identi- 

 fies the insect of whom Anacreon sang as the Cicada, which was 

 called Tettix by the ancient Greeks. Evidently the first English 

 translator of Anacreon erred in identifying the Tettix of the 

 ancients as a grasshopper, and subsequent poets (as is often 

 the case with prose writers) accepted his identification unques- 

 tioningly and thus perpetuated the error. Certainly the lines 

 of Moore bear out this assumption: 



"Oh thou of all creation blest, 

 Sweet insect, that delightst to rest 

 Upon the wildwoods leafy tops, 

 To drink the dew that morning drops. 

 Nor yet art thou the peasant's fear, 

 To him thy friendly notes are dear." 



But Keats, who was nothing if not original, adds his opinion to 

 the rest, in a totally different meter: 



"When all the birds are faint with the hot sun 

 And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run 

 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; 

 That is the grasshopper's he takes the lead 

 In summer luxury, he has never done 

 With his delights; for, when tired out with fun, 

 He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed." 



The Grasshopper and the Cricket. 



But the entomologist knows better! His more accurate view 

 of the grasshopper shows it hunted to the death by every bird, 

 beast, and creature of the 'field! Murdered by wasps, suffering 



'Curious Facts in the History of Insects, Frank Cowan, J. B. Lippincott & 

 Co., Philadelphia, 1865. 



