INSECT VARIETY. 251 



we may^ i£ our ear be fine^ even venture on a rendering into 

 sentiment, by the formula of Mersenne, an old and sage phi- 

 losopher and mathematician who flourished during the earlier 

 portion of the sixteenth century ; and the result, I think, will 

 fully justify the assumption of a common sound-perception to 

 our own, participated in by these humble instruments. To this 

 end the vowels a and o must be interpreted physiologically to 

 signify what is grand and full ; the vowel i, that which is small 

 and penetrating; «?, subtlety and sorrow; o, is expressive of 

 strong passion ; u, belongs to things secret and hidden ; /', ill, 

 ivh, and the like, frequent with insects, denote sharpness or 

 vanity ; s and x, bitter things ; r, the canine letter, violent and 

 impetuous emotions ; m,, magnificence ; n, things dark and 

 obscure ; and so on.^ Take now in illustration that pretty ballad 

 of Percy^s, " O Nancy, wilt thou go with me ?^' and compare it in 

 the fields with grasshopper stridulation, then it will at once strike 

 you that while the flaunt of the first six lines will suggest the 

 translation of many a rival challenge around, the refrain of the 

 last couplet is nothing less than a rendering of the common 

 pairing note. So our ballad, be it noticed, first speaks of colours 

 and danger, r-assei gowns, silken sheen, a W\sh behind, per^7<? 

 keen, mi.?/iap to rue, and such-like ; and so we think we hear 

 the grasshoppers, each in their own dialect, defy their mates. 

 After this comes the tende;* tear, regret, scenes, so gay, and wert 

 isivcest of the fair ; harsh retrospect, at least, it must be allowed, 

 represented in the grating rhythms of those saddest of little 

 lyres when death follows fast on the reproductive gatherings. 

 And on such pleas is it we would claim for these insect ears 

 analogous structure and perception with our own. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1829. J. Miiller, "Zur vergleichen den Physiologie die Gesichtsinnes," 

 p. 439. 



1832. Burmeister, " Handbuch der Entomologie," b. 1, s.'512 (Berlin). 

 1S37. Goureau, " Annal. de la Soc. Ent. de Fr.," p. 31. 



* "Wonders of Acoustics," by Robert Ball, M.A. 



