SUMMER MEETING AT BROOKFIELD. 153 



in absolute silence — at least, so far as the human ear is cognizant — those 

 that have the power of producing- distinct and characteristic sounds, 

 are not numerous in species, nor even, with some exceptions, in indi- 

 viduals. This fact alone would invest them with peculiar interest, not 

 only for the scientific investigator, but for the general lover of natural 

 phenomena. Bat it is when we come to study the object of the varied 

 hummings, whirrings and rattlings, and the delicacy and mechanical 

 perfection of the organs by which the sounds are produced, that our 

 interest depens into wonder and admiration. 



As a rule, musical organs are possessed only by the males, but in a 

 few groups and a few peculiar species the females have a certain power 

 of response. 



Since insects are capable of producing such a variety of sounds, 

 it is reasonable to suppose that they can hear, and yet in regard to the 

 general possession of this sense, there is much difference of opinion 

 among authors. The other senses, sight, smell, taste and feeling, are 

 demonstrably possessed by all insects except in a few abnormal or 

 degraded forms. The organs of vision are usually conspicuous on the 

 head of the perfect insect, and are most interesting in their structure. 

 The sense of smell has been located in the antennae, and that of taste 

 in certain microscopic depressions and papillae at the base of the ligula 

 or tongue, and on the underside of the maxilhc or inferior jaws. The 

 tactile sense, while probably most acute in the antennae and palpi 

 (mouth feelers), undoubtedly, as in the higher animals, pervades the 

 entire surface of the body. The location and conformation of the 

 auditory apparatus, on tbe contrary, has been a puzzle to many eminent 

 histologists. In the few species in which true ears have been discov- 

 ered, their situation is not confined to any particular region of the 

 body. It would seem as though nature regarded them as somewhat 

 superfluous, and placed them in one insect here and in another there, 

 with little regard to correlative structure. Consequently, in the field 

 locusts, the ears, or co-called "aural sacs," are placed one on each side 

 of the basal joint of the abdomen, while in the katydids and some 

 other] of the green locustiche, the ears are situated on the tibia? or 

 shanks of the fore legs. 



In only three of the primary divisions of true insects do we find 

 especial organs for producing sounds. These are the beetles, locusts, 

 crickets, etc., and the cicadas or harvest flies. 



Other insects which r give forth sounds, like the humming of the 

 bees and wasps and the buzzing of flies and gnats, do so by means of 

 the wings. That the latter sounds are to a certain extent voluntary is 

 proved by the variety of expression which may be distinguished in 



