160 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fully ornamented, on top in yellow and crimson. At maturity its green 

 color is somewhat tinged with purple. Its note is a soft little zeep r 

 zeep, zeep, to which its dutiful mate — more favored in this respect 

 than her female relatives — responds with a little musical chirp pro- 

 duced by a sudden extension of the wings, as if for flight. 



There is another small family of nocturnal musicians which cannot 

 conscientiously be omitted from the list. These are the snowy tree 

 crickets, chiefly remarkable for the piercing shrillness and loudness of 

 their notes. Of these, (Ecanthus niveus and (E. latipennis are most 

 common. They are small and very delicate in their structure, and are, 

 in fact, a mere diaphanous embodiment of sound. The wings of the 

 males are broad and glossy, and in the act of shrilling are elevated at 

 right angles to the slender body, and vibrated so rapidly as to appear 

 perfectly motionless. I do not know of any sound that will more sud- 

 denly awaken one at night or more effectually banish sleep than to have 

 one of these filmy atoms suddenly strike into his piercing solo from the 

 folds of the window curtain, amid which he can only by the closest 

 scrutiny be detected. 



It is quite a common practice to speak of the "song" of insects,, 

 but it will be seen from the preceding pages that the expression is in- 

 correct, and that insects are all instrumental musicians. Indeed, noth- 

 ing analogous to vocal organs have been discovered in their structure- 

 Except in the case of the cicadas, the general principle of the instru- 

 ments is that of the violin, viz., a ridged surface rubbed back and forth 

 over a tense membrane, or grated against another ridged or roughened 

 surface. As has been noted, the development of this plan varies 

 greatly according to the general structure and habits of the insect. 



It is very difficult to give by mere words any idea of the sounds 

 produced by these little creatures. The attempt has been made more 

 than once to represent them by musical symbols, but the success has 

 has not been eminent. The human voice cannot render them, and even 

 by mechanical means they are suggested rather than reproduced. They 

 must be heard in the vast auditorium of nature to be fully appreciated. 



In conclusion, I will only add that the more intimate our acquaint- 

 ance becomes with the insect world, the more compensations do we find 

 for such annoyances as it occasions us. If the " horrid worm" is 

 known to us as the potential butterfly or moth, if the borer that levies 

 upon our fruit trees has characteristics that proclaim it the larva of a 

 rare beetle, if the ferocious looking water insect is recognized as only 

 the graceful dragon-fly in disguise, how much of pleasurable interest 

 and even condonement for injury would there be in the association, 



