THE DEATH'S HEAD MOTH. 233 



The MotJi has a Voice. 



Its superior dimensions and bulk of body, and the 

 singular markings on the thorax, which bear such a 

 wonderful resemblance to a human skull, conspire to 

 render this moth a most remarkable species, but it is 

 still more striking and unique from the fact of possessing 

 a voice, or the power of uttering a kind of shrill, plain- 

 tive, and mournful squeak, somewhat resembling that 

 of a mouse — a peculiarity appertaining to only one other 

 species of the family, not belonging to this genus 

 (Manduca). While both sexes can produce the noise, 

 and some individuals do so with the greatest readiness 

 whenever touched or disturbed, nothing will induce others 

 to make it, ever so faintly. The strange cry has been 

 long known to naturalists, and the question of its origin 

 has given rise to much discussion. Almost innumerable 

 theories have been invented to account for this appa- 

 rently simple phenomenon, and quite a literature of its own 

 has accumulated round the subject. From Reaumur 

 downwards, observer after observer has experimented 

 with the view of ascertainingf the exact seat of the sound. 

 Some have attributed it to the same cause as in certain 

 beetles, the friction of one organ against another, as the 

 rubbing of the proboscis against the palpi, or the thorax 

 against the first segment of the abdomen ; and it is 



