NOISES OF IN'SECTS. 4S5 



prognostic sometimes fails — that when these insects fly in numbers, it 

 indicates a subsequent fine day.* The truth is, they only fly in fine wea- 

 ther. Mv. White has remarked, that in the dusk of the evening beetles 

 begin to buzz, and that partridges begin to call exactly at the same time.* 

 The common cockchafer, and that which appears at the summer solstice 

 (^Melolontha vulgaris and Amphimalla solstitiaiis), when they hover over the 

 summits of trees in numbers, produce a hum somewhat resembling that of 

 bees swarming. Perhaps some insect of this kind may occasion the hum- 

 ming in the air mentioned by Mr. White, and which you and I have often 

 heard in other places. " There is," says he, " a natural occurrence to be 

 met with in the highest part of our down on the hot summer days, 

 which always amuses me much, without giving me any satisfaction with 

 respect to the cause of it; — and that is a loud audible humming of bees 

 in the air, though not one insect is to be seen. — Any person would sup- 

 pose that a large swarm of bees was in motion, and playing about over his 

 head."* 



" Eesounds the living surface of the ground — 

 Nor undelightf'ul is the ceaseless luim 

 To him who muses throngli the woods at noon, 

 Or drowsy shepherd as he lies reclined." 



The hotter the weather, the higher insects will soar ; and it is not im- 

 probable that the sound produced by numbers may be heard, when those 

 that produce it are out of sight. The burying beetle (^Necrophonis Ves- 

 pillo), whose singular history so much amused you, as well as Cicindela 

 sylvatica of the same order, flies likewise, as I have more than once wit- 

 nessed, with a considerable hum. 



Whether the innumerable locust armies, to which I have so often called 

 your attention, make any noise in their flight, 1 have not been able to 

 ascertain ; the mere impulse of the wings of myriads and myriads of these 

 creatures upon the air, must, one would think, produce some sound. In 

 the symbolical locusts mentioned in the Apocalypse'*, this is compared to 

 the sound of chariots rushing to battle: an illustration which the inspired 

 author of that book would scarcely have had recourse to, if the real locusts 

 winged their way in silence. 



Amongst the Hemiptcra, I knov/ only a single species that is of noisy 

 flight ; though doubtless, were the attention of entomologists directed to 

 that subject, others would be found exhibiting the same peculiarity. The 

 insect I allude to (Corcus marginalus') is one of the numerous tribe of bugs; 

 when flying, especially when hovering together in a sunny sheltered spot, 

 they emit a hum as loud as that of the hive-bee. 



From the magnitude and strength of their wings, it might be supposed 

 that man}' lepidopterous insects would not be silent in their flight ; and 

 indeed many of tlie hawk-moths (Sj)hivx F.), and some of the larger moths 

 (^Bomhi/x F.), are not so; Cossus Hgmpcrda, for instance, is said to emulate 

 the booming of beetles by means of its large stiff wings; whence in Ger- 

 many it is called the humming-bird {Bnnnm-vogcl). But the great boily 

 of these numerous tribes, even those that fan the air with " sail-broad 

 vans," produce little or no sound by their motion. I must, therefore, leave 



1 Siist. Nat. 42. 550. 2 Nat. Hist. ii. 254. 



5 White, Nat. Hist. ii. 256. * Uev. ix. 9. 



I I 3 



