INSECT VARIETY. 127 



generally abundant among'st rushes, may be often observed thus 

 employed in the months of June and July/'' If such be stridu- 

 lators, how truly may it be said of man^ " The gateway of sound 

 is impervious to the cry of that life which we crush beneath 

 our feet, and to the joyous myriads which sport in the sun- 

 beam.''^ 



Lastly, butterflies and moths, in the larval and pupal stage, 

 emit sounds which have been referred to stridulation. The green- 

 and-brown caterpillars of the Death^s Head Moth when tickled 

 hastily sway their head and first segment to and fro, emitting a 

 succession of crackling noises resembling the sound produced from 

 the winding up of a watch ; and those of Langla Zeuzeroides, a 

 stridulating Sphinx found in North India, emit a strong and 

 sharp " hiss,^^ degenerating to a " squeak " when the caterpillar 

 becomes lethargic. The chrysalids of the Green Hair Streak, if 

 females (?), " chirp '' or " creak,""^ especially it is said when dry and 

 placed in the same receptacle ; and a similar sound has been heard 

 produced by the pupte of the Death^s Head Moth. Perhaps all 

 that can at present be stated regarding these notes is that they 

 appear uniformly to arise from muscular contractions arising from 

 touch, and seem to predict a stridulating imago. Another 

 sound-producing pupa is that of a large Ornothoptera butterfly, 

 which possesses the power of making a curious noise, like " Pha ! 

 phaT^ resembling aerial expiration. It makes it very loudly 

 when touched, and the noise is accompanied (perhaps produced) 

 by a sharp contraction of the abdominal segments. 



The larvae of some Nearctic Sphinx moths behave similarly. 

 That of Smerhithus excactiis, Lin., found on beech, when handled 

 or disturbed, emits a singing noise resembling the stridor of 

 Lema [Crioceris ?) trllineata, a relative of our Lily Beetle, 

 common in gardens in Canada. The larvte of Cressonia [Smerin- 

 thus) jnglandis (Grote), found on the hickories {Gary a alba and 

 jwrcina) , when shaken on the tree, give utterance to the notes 

 " Tcep ! tcep \" flexing the body sharply from side to side. 



STRIDULATION OF THE COLEOPTERA. 



The music of beetles is accomplished by vibration of the body 

 or elytra, and the stridulators are terrestrial or aquatic, indicating 

 musical groups in the various families of a class, pre-eminently 



