1907 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 38 



The sound is really produced by one of the smallest of the Owl family 

 (Crypto glaux acadica). Who it was that first made known the fact I do not 

 know, but it is well established now. 



I once saw a pair of these comical owls perched on the roadside fence, 

 where a small brook crossed the way. I was in my waggon; and the con- 

 fident yet inquisitive looks they gave me were very amusing. Probably, if 

 I had attempted to leave the waggon, they would have flown quickly enough. 

 I inferred that they had come to the brook in search of frogs. 



Night-jars were plentiful in that part of the country in the summei. 

 After night-fall they could be dimly seen overhead, hawking for moths and 

 beetles. Their rapid movements, as they chased their prey, were not unlike 

 those of the Tumbler Pigeon. And as they flew they uttered their plaintive 

 call. 



Once in a long while the scream of the lynx was heard in the night in 

 that locality, as it was in the day time also. A little son of my next neigh- 

 bor was passing through the woods one day when he was terrified by the cry 

 of this animal. He started to run; and the lynx bounded along — all four 

 feet in the air at once, after the manner of its progression — keeping a short 

 distance on one side, and uttering repeatedly its startling cry, probably to 

 call its mate. Whether the pair would have attacked the child I cannot 

 say. Happilj^ the sound of a woodman's axe was heard, and this guided 

 the little fellow to safety and frightened the beast away. 



In the early Spring the Frog Concert came off with great eclat, and 

 was continued night after night. In it were heard the piccolo notes of the 

 tree frog, the trombone of the bull frog, the cackling, croaking, rattling 

 tattoo of the common frog, and now and then, like the jingle of the trian- 

 gle, the ''tr-r-r-r-ill" of a toad. 



There are other sounds that break the stillness of the night — sounds 

 produced by living creatures, but which can only by a figure of speech be 

 termed the "voices" of the existences from which they come. To use the 

 words of Ben Jonson : 



" The sohIv Iteetles, with their haberKeoiis. 

 Do make « humming murmur as tliey fiy." 



Lachnosterna fnsca, Frohl, is the beetle that comes from the large white 

 grub that is dug up so often in our gardens. Its shards, or elytra, are held 

 erect while the true wings which are membraneous really bear the insect 

 up, and by their vibrations produce the humming sound. 



The imDertinent "twang" of the mosquito is produced in like manner: 

 and it i5 wonderful that wings so delicate and frail in appearance as those 

 of the mosquito cai. be exercised with such rapidity as to produce so shrill 

 a sound. 



The antennae of insects are supposed to serve instead of ears ; and it may 

 be that long and delicate antennae with which many of the smaller kinds of 

 Neuroptera are supplied were intended to catch the pulsations in the air 

 caused by the rapid vibratory action of the minute wings of their compeers. 

 Sounds we cannot hear are in all probability made known to the tiny com- 

 panions of the creatures that produce them. 



The wayfarer in the dusk of evening, who will pause near a patch of the 

 Silk-Weed (Asclepias cornuti) in full blossom, will probably hear a distinct 

 and continuous humming caused by the motion of the wings of the Sphinges 

 and other moths, that flit from plant to plant, or hover over the blooms, and 

 through their long and slender trunks, imbibe the nectar that Flora in her 

 bounty has provided for them. 



3 EN. 



