vi PREFACE. 



Borneo, and part of the collection made by A. E. Pratt in China.* I have also been allowed 

 to see most of Stal's Philippine and Indian types in the Stockholm Museum. t 



Referring to my own unpublished Catalogue, about 82 genera, and 720 J species of 

 Cicadida3 are now known to Science, and of these I have been able to include 34 genera 

 and 268 species in this fauna, a doubtless insufficient number for many parts of the area, 

 especially for China and New Guinea, though we may consider our knowledge of the genera 

 and species found in Continental India as much more satisfactory. 



Of the life-histories of these interesting insects we can only glean scattered records. 

 At page 1, reference has been made to most of the published information respecting the 

 structural details of the wonderful sound-producing organs of the males. The volume of 

 sound emitted by these organs has impressed travellers and naturalists in all parts of the 

 world, and we meet with many references to it in zoological literature and in works of travel 

 and adventure. The time of day when the males give forth their shrill and unmelodious 

 sounds probably varies with different species and in different localities. In Nicaragua, Belt 

 " found them loudest towards sunset, keeping up their shrill music until it is taken up by 

 night-vocal crickets and locusts." § In Austraha, " during rain, these insects are silent ; but 

 re-commence their clamour on the re-appearance of fine weather." || In South Brazil, Bigg- 

 Wither, referring to a dominant species, states that he does not remember ever hearing "its 

 shrill whistle excepting during the three months of September, October, and November." •[ 

 In the Transvaal, according to my own experience, Platijpleura divisa has an equally restricted 

 time of appearance and song, commencing in November, after the arrival of the rains. In the 

 North of Italy, Swinton noticed that the males of Cicada plcbcja and Tihiceii Immatodcs " sing on 

 the summit of brushwood at an elevation varying from ten to twelve feet," while Tcttigia orni 

 " will ascend the poplar trunks to a much greater height" for the same purpose.** In Brazil, 

 Mr. Jones describes a species as making a noise equal to the whistle of a locomotive. " Indeed 

 so remarkable is the resemblance that once or twice since I have returned to England I have 

 suddenly been recalled to the tropical groves by the sound of an extra shrill railway whistle at 

 a distance." ft Perhaps the most picturesque description of this sound is given by Prof. McCoy, 

 referring to an Australian species, PsaUoda miereiis. It is described as producing " almost a 

 deafening sound from the numbers of the individuals in the hottest days, and the loudness of 

 their noise ; which beginning with a prolonged high-toned whir like that of a knife-grinder, or 

 the letter E loudly prolonged in a high pitch, continued for a minute or two, breaks into a 

 series of diminuendo 'squawks,' like that of a frightened duck in a farm-yard, loud enough to be 

 heard some hundred yards off, and stunning our ears with the shrilling and squalling. This 

 kept up with ' damnable iteration,' as Falstaff says, by hundreds of individuals all day long, 

 would tax the patience of a saint, if such existed in Australia." 1 1 



The Cicadan song is clearly of a sexual nature, the sound-producing organs being only 



* Presented to me by Mr. J. H. Leech, the promoter of the expedition. f By the favour of Dr. C. Aurivillius. 



J This does not inchide the whole of Walker's descriptions, and leaves a few yet undetermined to be of synonymic or 

 specific value. The tabulation, however, may be taken as approximately correct. 



§ 'The Naturalist in Nicaragua,' p. 312. |] Bennett, 'Wanderings in New South Wales,' vol. i. p. 237. 



If ' Pioneering in South Brazil,' vol. i. p. 297. ** ' Insect Variety,' p. 222. 



It 'Yorkshii-e Natm-alist' (2), ix. pp. 129-30 (1884). J| 'Prodromus Zoology— Victoria,' v. pp. 53, 5i (Dec, 1880J. 



