NOISES OF INSECTS. 401 



gratorhts, L.), answers tolerably well to the tympanum 

 of our common grasshoppers, only in them the aperture 

 seems to be rather semicircular, and the wrinkled 

 plate — which has no marginal hairs — is clearly a conti- 

 nuation of the substance of the segment. This appa- 

 ratus so much resembles the drum of the Cicadae, that 

 there can be little doubt as to its use. The vibrations 

 caused by the friction of the thighs and elytra striking 

 upon this drum, are reverberated by it, and so intense- 

 ness is given to the sound. In Spain, we are told 

 that people of fashion keep these animals — called there 

 Grillo — in cages, which they name Grilleriay for the 

 sake of their song ^. 



J shall conclude this diatribe upon the noises of in- 

 sects, with a tribe that have long been celebrated for 

 their musical powers ; I mean the Cicadce, including 

 the two genera Fulgora, L. and TeUigonia, F. The 

 Fulgorce appear to be night-singers, while the Cicadce 

 sing usually in the day. The great lantern-fly (Ful' 

 gora laternariu, L.), from its noise in the evening — 

 nearly resembling the sound of a cymbal, or razor- 

 grinder when at work — is called Scare-sleep by the 

 Dutch in Guiana. It begins regularly at sun-set''. 

 Perhaps an insect mentioned by Ligon as making a 

 great noise in the night in Barbadoes, may belong to 

 this tribe. " There is a kind of animal in the woods," 

 says he, " that I never saw, which lie all day in holes 

 and hollow trees, and as soon as the sun is down begin 

 their tunes, which are neither singing nor crying, but 

 the shrillest voices I ever heard : nothing can be so 

 nearly resembled to it as the mouths of a pack of small 



* Osbeck's Votj. t.\l, •* Strdnian's Surinam, ii. 37. 



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