THE SONG OF THE CIGALE 43 



thighs against the roughened edge of its wing-covers ; 

 when the green tree-frog swells its throat in the foliage 

 of the bushes, distending it to form a resonant cavity 

 when the rain is imminent, is it calling to its absent 

 mate ? By no means. The efforts of the former produce 

 a scarcely perceptible stridulation ; the palpitating throat 

 of the latter is as ineffectual ; and the desired one does 

 not come. 



Does the insect really require to emit these resounding 

 effusions, these vociferous avowals, in order to declare 

 its passion ? Consult the immense majority whom the 

 conjunction of the sexes leaves silent. In the violin of 

 the grasshopper, the bagpipe of the tree-frog, and the 

 cymbals of the Cacan I see only their peculiar means of 

 expressing the joy of living, the universal joy which 

 every species of animal expresses after its kind. 



If you were to tell me that the Cigales play on their 

 noisy instruments careless of the sound produced, and 

 merely for the pleasure of feeling themselves alive, just as 

 we rub our hands in a moment of satisfaction, I should 

 not be particularly shocked. That there is a secondary 

 object in their concert, in which the silent sex is interested, 

 is very possible and very natural, but it is not as yet 

 proven.^ 



* Whether the Cigale is absolutely deaf or not, it is certain that 

 one Cigale would be able to perceive another's cry. The vibrations 

 of the male Cigale's cry would cause a resonance, a vibration, in the 

 body cavities of other male Cigales, and to a lesser extent in the 

 smaller cavities in the bodies of the females. Other sounds would 

 cause a slight shock, if loud enough, but not a perceptible vibration. 

 May not this vibration — felt as in a cathedral we feel the vibrations 

 of the organ-pipes in the bones of the chest and head or on the 

 covers of the hymn-book in our hands — serve to keep the insects 

 together, and enable the females to keep within sight of the males ? 



