402 NOISES OF INSECTS. 



beagles at a distance ; and so lively and chirping the 

 noise is, as nothing can be more delightful to the ears, 

 if there were not too much of it ; for the music hath no 

 intermission till morning, and then all is husht^" 



The species of the other genus, Tettigonia, F., called 

 by the ancient Greeks — by whom they were often kept 

 in cages for the sake of their song — TettLv, seem to 

 have been the favourites of every Grecian bard from 

 Homer and Hesiod to Anacreon and Theocritus. Sup- 

 posed to be perfectly harmless, and to live only upon 

 the dew, they were addressed by the most endearing 

 epithets, and were regarded as all but divine. One 

 bard entreats the shepherds to spare the innoxious 

 Tettix, that nightingale of the Nymphs, and to make 

 those mischievous birds the thrush and blackbird their 

 prey. Sweet prophet of the summer, says Anacreon, 

 addressing this insect, the Muses love thee, Phcebus 

 himself loves thee, and has given thee a shrill song ; 

 old age does not wear thee ; thou art wise, earth-born, 

 musical, impassive, without blood ; thou art almost 

 like a god''. So attached were the Athenians to these 

 insects, that they were accustomed to fasten golden 

 images of them in their hair, implying at the same 

 time a boast that they themselves, as well as the Ci- 

 cadae, were Terrce jilii. They were regarded indeed 

 by all as the happiest as well as the most innocent of 

 animals — not, we will suppose, for the reason given by 

 the saucy Rhodian Xenarchus, when he says, 

 *' Happy the Cicadas' lives, 



Since they all have voiceless wives." 



If the Grecian Tettix or Cicada had been distin- 



* Hist, of Barbadoes,65. " Epigratiim, Deled. 45. 234. 



