THE CICADA. 535 



OD tlie rootH of which it is supposed that the larva feeds. The 

 peculiar sound of its wings has already been noticed, and an 

 allusion made to sounds produced in some other manner. In 

 mobt of the Cicadje, the males are able to produce a very loud, 

 shrill, and monotonous sound, which in some species is so loud 

 that it can be heard at the distance of a mile. This sound is 

 produced by means of a remarkable internal apparatus, con- 

 sisting of a pair of tightly stretched membranes or 'drums,' 

 which are acted upon by powerful muscles. This apparatus is 

 guarded from harm by two large plates formed from the sides 

 of the metasternum. If these plates be lifted up, the drums 

 can be plainly seen below them, the space between the drums 

 and the plates being so large as to form a cavity, which evi- 

 dently serves as a sounding-board. 



Whether our British species sings or not appears to be a 

 still mooted question which could easily be settled. It is true 

 that a male kept in captivity for two or three days made no 

 sound, and on the strength of this very negative evidence, the 

 English Cicada was set down as dumb. Now, I have at this 

 moment a male of the Grreat Grreeu Grrasshoj)per under a glass 

 shade. He was perfectly silent for some time after he was 

 placed in confinement, but is now so musical that he becomes 

 almost a nuisance, his loud, shrill cry being plainly heard 

 from the room below that in which I am sitting. His musical 

 propensities are the more remarkable as he kicked off one of 

 his hind legs while being transferred from a little tumbler to 

 tlie large glass shade. Had this insect been as rare as the 

 Cicada, and had it lived for some two days in captivity and 

 then died, it might have been pronounced to be dumb with 

 quite as good reason. 



The females — fortunately for the ears of mankind — do not 

 possess the shrilling apparatus, but they are provided with an 

 instrument which is in its way quite as wonderful. This is the 

 boring instrument or ovipositor. The principle of these borers 

 is something like that of the corresponding instrument in the 

 saw-fly ; but, instead of being composed of two flat saws, the 

 borer of the Cicada is formed of a double spear-headed in- 

 strument, the edges of the spear-head being strongly toothed. 

 With this instrument the female Cicada bores holes in the 

 material in which the future larva is to be produced, and lays 



