1877.] 275 



who ascribes tlie sound to tlie friction of tlie hind femora over the 

 strife, also mentions the vesicle as present and well developed in 

 Chelonia matronuJa and (Erfzeni, the former of which was observed by 

 Czerny to produce stridulous sounds, and in 0. Jiavia he found the 

 episternum of the metathorax, though denuded, not dilated. The 

 bladder and strise are perceptible in the indigenous Phragmatohia 

 fnliginosa. Guenee (Ann. de la Soc. Ent. de France, ser. 4, t. iv, 

 1864, Ent. Mo. Mag., i, 223), again describes this identical vesicular 

 inflation, noticed previously by Haldeman in the same Annales (1859), 

 in several species of Setina — aurita,ramosa,roscida, irrorea,Jlavicans, 

 and Andererjgi, some of which he describes as producing ticking sounds, 

 although the four or five raised strife, or rather membranous folds, 

 somewhat distant, placed at the lower angle of the bladder, where it 

 is covered by the hind femur, seem indeed to have escaped his notice. 

 He naturally attributes the sound to the rumpling of the membrane. 

 This latter author, and after him Laboulbene, made dissections of the 

 vesicle in Setina and Chelonia respectively, and conjointly describe it 

 as empty and divided into .a right and left cavity by a membranous 

 partition. 



But this crumpled bladder only needs searching for to establish 

 its presence very generally among the species of the Lithosiidce and 

 Cheloniidce, the greatest development inclining towards the former, 

 and attaining a maximum perhaps at the tangential point of the two 

 groups. Though minute, it is beautifully developed in Miltochrisfa 

 miniata, the linear corrugation lying under the hind femur, placed 

 well on the bladder, as in Setina, and showing about twenty-five 

 crenations. In the genus Lithosia, the metathoracic episternum is 

 less vesicular, but the furrows defined and regular. In Gnophria 

 ruhricollis, the bladder is well seen, but the strise nearer the anterior 

 margin are rather wider apart. It is also present in Nudaria. 

 In Callimorplia jacohcece, the strise are present in both sexes, but 

 the episternum is scarcely inflated. It would be curious to observe 

 the pairing of these indigenous moths, and on capturing to place 

 them to the ear, to ascertain if at any such time a stridulous motion 

 or perceptible sound could be detected, and ascribed to the stimulus of 

 love, rivalry, or fear. Other Lepidoptera have been noticed by 

 Prof. Wcstwood as possessed of musical organs similar in const ruc- 

 tion, but situated, as I understand, on the abdomen, and corresponding 

 to the tymbals of the Gicadce. Of this, the genus Glaucopis, in the 

 family Zij(j(FnidcB, and the geinis Hecastcsia, afford examples, ILecas- 

 tesia Thijridvn being known to produce a sound (see the genus 



