A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. 173 
to the ground picks him to pieces, and, like a 
dainty epicure, swallows only the choicest bits; 
the Louisiana tanager, flashing like a gem in the 
golden sunshine, seizes on him and gobbles him 
up bodily; crafty woodpeckers and stealthy 
prying little flycatchers pounce upon him in the 
midst of his song, and end his life ere yet it has 
well begun. It shows us how wise is Creative 
Wisdom in endowing these harmless little insects 
with such vast powers of reproduction! If one 
female only succeeds in safely depositing her eggs, 
at least seven hundred larve are produced; and 
may it not be that, being voiceless, she is less likely 
to be discovered than the male? 
The structure of the apparatus with which the 
males execute their long-continued, shrill, monoto- 
nous music is most singular, and well worth 
investigation. It is a sort of compound instru- 
ment, between a banjo and a violin, consisting of 
two membranes tightly stretched, and acted on 
by powerful muscles; the sound issues from two 
holes near the insertion of the hind-legs. The 
intensity of the sound produced varies in differ- 
ent species, dependant in a great measure on the 
size of the instrument. One species, found in 
Surinam, produces such ringing tones from his 
musical apparatus, as to be distinctly heard at a 
