233 OV INSECT SOUNDS. 



on the ground that its noises however produced (not necessarily 

 laryngeal) are understood by its fellow insects, and thereby a 

 relation of emotional or intellectual intercourse established. He 

 adduces cries of alarm, irritation, pleasure, fear, command, Sec, 

 terms which imply subjective states of insect consciousness which 

 affect the utterance or cessation of these sounds, and determine the 

 conduct of other insects when they hear them. This is in fact ta 

 claim for the insect the possession of faculties which regulate the 

 use of its voice, and which amount to a reasoning perception acting 

 as a motive to its utterance of sounds. In a word, the physical 

 significance of vocal sounds is not only admitted for such as are 

 emitted by the mouth, but al^o extended to include sounds which 

 are not even vocal, because they none the less attract attention and 

 determine action. But if all voluntarily produced sounds are to be 

 considered as having the intention of language, that is of signs by 

 which feeling or idea is expressed, then neither oral utterance nor 

 the possession of a voice-organ constitute necessary conditions of 

 intercommunication, though our author pronounces the insect 

 voiceless on these very tests. 



That animals produce sounds characteristic of their species, and 

 that they are affected by sounds is sufficiently apparent, and most 

 strikingly so when they are on the watch to hunt and prey upon 

 other animals. And they are notoriously most observant of the 

 sounds uttered by those whom they seek to make their victims, or 

 whose attack they themselves avoid. But the appreciation of sound 

 in all such cases has for its motive an instinct quite opposed to any 

 intercourse between these natural enemies ; nor can there be the 

 slightest pret(^nce of reciprocity between the sound which an 

 animal utters without any intention of betraying itself, and the 

 purpose of the animal on the watch for its prey. Why then must 

 we attribute a particular meaning to the cry of alarm as thougli it 

 were a warnmg to its fellows, even if it actually has that effect? 

 Why must the cry of pleasure mean an invitation to others to 

 participate? Why grant any foundation oi psycJiical signilicance 



