NOrSKS OF INSECTS. 3.91 



servatioiis will be contined to the tribes lately mention- 

 ed, the GnjlUna, &c. and the Cicadce. 



No sound is to me more agreeable than the chirping 

 of most of the Grj/Uina, Locustina, &c. ; it gives life to 

 solitude, and always conveys to my mind the idea of a 

 perfectly happy being. As these creatures are now very 

 properly divided into several genera, I shall say a few 

 words upon the song of such as are known to be vocal, 

 separately. 



The ren'^rkable genus Pneximora — whose pellucid 

 abdomen is blown up like a bladder, on which account 

 they are called Blaazops by the Dutch colonists at the 

 Cape — in the evening, for they are silent in the day, 

 make a tremulous and tolerably loud noise, which is 

 sometimes heard on every side *. The species of this 

 genus have a much greater claim to the name of Fiddlers, 

 than the insect lately mentioned, since their sound is pro- 

 duced by passing the hind-legs over a number of short 

 transverse elevated ridges on the abdomen, which may 

 be called the'w Jiddlc-strings^. 



The cricket tribe are a very noisy race, and their chirp- 

 ing is caused by the friction of the bases of their elytra 

 against each other. For this purpose there is something- 

 peculiar in their structure, which I shall describe to you. 

 The elytra of both sexes are divided longitudinally into 

 two portions: a vertical or lateral one, which covers the 

 sides ; and a horizontal or dorsal one, which covers the 

 back. In the female both these portions resemble each 

 other in their nervures ; which running obliquely in two 

 directions, by their intersection form numerous small 

 lozenge-shaped or rhomboidal meshes or areolets. The 



•" Sparrman, Toy. i. .3ie. *' i'l.-ATi XXIX. Ki<;. ]:!. 



