THE SONG OF THE CIGALE 35 



The dampers, which are rigid and soHdly built, are 

 motionless. It is the abdomen itself which, by rising 

 and falling, opens or closes the doors of the " church." 

 When the abdomen is lowered the dampers exactly 

 cover the chapels as well as the windows of the sound- 

 boxes. The sound is then muted, muffled, diminished. 

 When the abdomen rises the chapels are open, the 

 windows unobstructed, and the sound acquires its full 

 volume. The rapid oscillations of the abdomen, syn- 

 chronising with the contractions of the motor muscles 

 of the cymbals, determine the changing volume of the 

 sound, which seems to be caused by rapidly repeated 

 strokes of a fiddlestick. 



If the weather is calm and hot, towards mid-day the 

 song of the Cigale is divided into strophes of several 

 seconds' duration, which are separated by brief intervals 

 of silence. The strophe begins suddenly. In a rapid 

 crescendo, the abdomen oscillating with increasing 

 rapidity, it acquires its maximum volume ; it remains 

 for a few seconds at the same degree of intensity, then 

 becomes weaker by degrees, and degenerates into a 

 shake, which decreases as the abdomen returns to rest. 

 With the last pulsations of the belly comes silence ; the 

 length of the silent interval varies according to the stat* 

 of the atmosphere. Then, of a sudden, begins a new 

 strophe, a monotonous repetition of the first ; and so 

 on indefinitely. 



It often happens, especially during the hours of the 

 sultry afternoons, that the insect, intoxicated with sun 

 light, shortens and even suppresses the intervals of 

 silence. The song is then continuous, but always with 

 an alternation of crescendo and diminuendo. The first 



