NOISES OF IXSECTS. 5C1 



between the aTscIomen and the hind legs,^ These are the drum-covers or 

 opercula, from beneath which the sound issues. At the base of the 

 [losterior legs, just above each operculum, there is a small pointed trian- 

 gular process {pessellum) ^, the object of which, as Reaumur supposes, is to 

 prevent them irom being too much elevated. When an operculum is re- 

 moved, beneath it you will find on the exterior side a hollow cavity, with a 

 rnouth somewhat linear, which seems to open into the interior of the ab- 

 domen ^ : next to this, on the inner side, is another large cavity of an 

 irregular shape, the bottom of which is divided into three portions ; of 

 these the posterior is lined obliquely with a beautiful membrane, which is 

 very tense — in some species semi-opaque, and in others transparent — and 

 reflects all the colours of the rainbow. This mirror is not the real organ of 

 sound, but is supposed to modulate it. '^ The middle portion is occupied 

 by a plate of a horny substance, placed horizontally, and forming tne 

 bottom of the cavity. On its inner sitle this plate terminates in a carma or 

 elevated ridge, common to both drums.^ Between the plate and the after- 

 breast (posi2)ecfits) another membrane, folded transversely, fills an oblique, 

 oblong, or semilunar cavity.^ In some species I have seen this membrane 

 in tension ; probably the insect can stretch or relax it at its pleasure. But 

 even all this ap[)aratus is insufficient to produce the sound of these animals ; 

 one still more important and curious yet remains to be described. This 

 organ can only be discovered by dissection. A portion of the first and 

 second segments being removed from that side of the back of the abdomen 

 which answers to the drums, two bundles of muscles meeting each other in 

 an acute angle, attached to a place opposite to the point of the nnicro of 

 the first ventral segment of the abtlomen, will appear.'' In Reaumur's spe- 

 cimens these bundles of muscles seem to have been cylindrical ; but in one 

 I dissected (^Cicada Capcnsis) they were tubitorm, the end to which the 

 true drum is attached being dilated.^ These bundles consist of a prodi- 

 gious number of muscular fibres applied to each other, but easily separable. 

 Whilst Reaumur was examining one of these, pulling it from its place with 

 a pin, he let it go again, and inunediately, though the animal had been long 

 dead, the usual sound was emitted. On each side of the drum-cavities, 

 when the opercula are removed, another cavity of a lunulate shape, opening 

 into the interior of the abdomen, is observable.^ In this is the true drum, 

 the principal organ of sound, and its aperture is to the Cicada what our 

 larynx is to us. i'i these creatures are unable themselves to modulate their 

 sounds, here are parts enough to do it for them : for the mirrors, the 

 membranes, and the central portions, with their cavities, all assist in it. In 

 the cavity last described, if you remove the lateral part of the first dorsal 

 segment of the abdomen, you will discover a semi-opaque and nearly semi- 

 circular concavo-convex membrane with transverse folds : tliis is the 

 drum.^° Each bundle of muscles, before mentioned, is terminated by a 

 tendinous (jlate nearly circular, from which issue several little tendons that, 

 forming a thread, j)ass through an aperture in the horny piece that supports 

 the drum, and arc attached to its under or concave surface. Thus the 



1 Eeaum, v. t. xvi. f. 5. u u. * Reaum. uhi svpra, t. xvi. f. 11. b. 



s Heaum. ibid. f. 3. 1 1. * Ibid, ubi supra, f. 3. m ni. 



5 Ibid. q.q. c. 6 IJeauin. t. xvi. f. 3. ii u. 



7 Ibid, ubi supra, f. 6.//. 8 ]bi,l. f. 9. f f. 



• Ibid. f. 3. /. 10 Ibid. f. 6. i t. f. 9. 



