VI INTRODUCTION. 



under the abdomen of the female, there is at any rate 

 a singular coincidence of sound in the Latin name of 

 the creature. 



Though not much to the point, it may be noted, 

 that in late Ptolomaic times the Greek sigma was 

 often written C. In the Fayum tombs, ICIXlN=:Ision, 

 MAPEIc=Mareis, AHMHTPIOc=Demetrios. 



The Cicada was, according to Moufat, known to the 

 Greeks under several different names. Thus we have 

 (3ul3ai (a babbler or chatterer), HepHu>7rn (a crafty one), 

 hJc>.a/A.i^ai (reed players), TEmvovia, TSTTiyo/j-nr^a. Tlic last 

 name was given to the smaller kinds, which were once 

 believed to be the mothers of the larger sorts. 



Perhaps the first notice of the Tettix occurs in the 

 'Iliad,' where Homer says, "Good orators are like 

 the Tettiges, which, sitting on the trees of the woods, 

 send forth a delicate music"; or as Lord Derby more 

 elegantly translates the words : — 



" Sage chiefs exempt from war, but in discourse abundant, 

 As the cricket on high. 



From tlie topmost brancli of forest tree sends fortli 

 His dehcate music." . . . /■'• 



Again, Diomed says to Sthenelos to calm his anger, 

 " TfTTa a-iuTiri mo," "Father, be silent. "f The word tettjI, 

 also, was used for a chatterer or senseless fool ; as 

 when Ulysses, in utter scorn, calls Thersites a cricket- 

 speaking fool or babbler.]: In later times, also, tettjI 

 was synonymous with a parasite or flatterer. 



Hesiod, living perhaps not much later than Homer, 

 says, in his 'Works and Days,' "When the Skolymus 

 flowers, and the tuneful Tettix sitting on a tree in the 

 weary summer season pours forth, from under his 

 wings, his shrill song," &c.§ And, in the ' Shield of 

 Hercules,' also, he makes an allusion, in very similar 

 words, to " the dark- winged Tettix, when he begins to 

 sing to men of the coming summer ; he whose meat 

 and drink is of the refreshing dew, and who all day 



* ' Ihad,' TransL III. p. 181. f ' Ihad,' IV. p. 412. 



+ ' Ihad,' II. p. 246. § Hesiod, ' Works and Days,' p. 580. 



