THE 



ENTOMOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



JANUARY, 1838. 



Art. XI. — An Essay on the Stridulation of Insects. By 



M. GOUREAU. 



[Extracted from the Annales de la Society Entomologique de France.] 



Nearly all insects are mute. Those which possess the 

 power of producing sounds are distributed amongst the various 

 orders, with the exception of Neuroptera, Diptera, and Aptera, 

 which, as far as I am aware, contain no sound-producing insect 

 inhabiting Europe.* 



The most remarkable sound-producing insects are, crickets, 

 grasshoppers, locusts, and Cicadcv. These little animals, 

 throughout the summer, emit a sharp, monotonous, and weari- 

 some sound, familiar to every one, and generally known by the 

 name of song. Now, it has been agreed to designate by this 

 word the noise produced in the larynx by the passage of air 

 expelled from the lungs, and we must at once perceive that 

 there is a wide difference between the mechanism by which 

 the song of insects and that of other animals is effected ; and 

 since the former do not breathe by the mouth, we cannot, in 

 strict correctness, give a name implying voice to sounds which 

 they emit, except in those instances where such sounds are 

 caused by the expulsion of air through the tracheae. But if 

 this noise result from the friction of sonorous membranes 



" Tlie buzzing of insects is not the object of inquiry in this paper. As I am 

 not aware that the correctness of tlie cause assigned for the production of this 

 sound, in an article of the Revue Entomologique, Vol. III. p. 10], has been dis- 

 puted, I have not thought it needful to speak of it here. 

 NO. II. VOL. V. N 



