Musical Insects. 



4<^5 



iiniformit\- with which each species of stenobothrus pla\> its own sonj^^ is 

 quite remarkable. One kincP produces about six notes per second, and 

 continues them from one and a lialf to two and a half seconds ; another- makes 

 from nine to twelve notes in about three seconds. In both cases the notes 

 follow each other unifornilw and are slower in the shade than in the s\in.' 

 These, as in all the short-horned grasshoppers, produce their sounds b\- scrap- 

 ing the hind-leg o\'er the 

 l)roiecting nervures of the 

 wing-co\'ers. 



In a South African 

 species'^ of this family, 

 known as the il\-ing goose- 

 berry, there is an extra- 

 ordinary development of 

 the hind-bodv of the male, 

 and the wing-covers are not 

 used in sound production. 

 The hind-bod\- is inflated 

 with air so as to become a 

 great, pellucid bladder, in 

 order to increase the re- 

 sonance of the sounds the 

 Insect makes b\" scraping 

 the comparativelv small 

 hind-legs over a series of 

 ridges which are jjlaced on 

 each side of the inflated 

 abdomen. At night these 

 Insects make a wonderful 

 noise, accordin.^ to ^Ir. 

 Trimen. The hie in this case, 

 though owing to its position 

 it does not show in the 

 {)hotograph, is so large and 

 well defined as to be seen 

 without searching tor it. 



Another e x t r a - 

 ordinary example, Anders- 

 son's gr assh opper , from 

 S(juth Africa'* is wing- 

 less in both 



I HE Cicadas Musical Instruments. 



.\ view of the cicada from below. The legs have been reiiioveJ the better to show the 

 two semicircular covers to the apparatus for producing the loud notes of the cicada's call 

 The position of these organs is indicated bv the arrow ; and the arrangement ot the 

 interior is shown on pages 461 and .\b2. 



H'xes and does not use its leaping legs for leaping. The thighs 

 are greatl\' expanded, and on their inner face near to the base there are peg-like 

 projections. Although there are no wings, there are incipient wing-covers, and 

 these in the male are strongly grooved and ridged, whilst below them on the first 

 segment of the hind-body, and partly overlapping the second, there is a swollen 



' Stc-nobothrus curtipcnnis 



- S. nu'lanopleiiriis. 

 'rrachyiH'trflla andc-rssoni. 



^ Pneumora scutcllaris. 



