MUSIC IN THE PLANT WORLD 
little Butterfly on occasion is a drummer. With 
hooks on its wings, it makes a sharp crackle, 
not unlike one of the weird noises sometimes 
used by human “traps.” Beetles play the bones. 
The Bamboo Tree is sometimes the possessor 
of a whole corps of intelligent and efficient 
drummers. They attach themselves to the 
under side of the leaves, from which vantage- 
point they strike them with their heads when- 
ever their services are required. An Ant of the 
Sumatratran species keeps wonderful time. 
Though spread out over a number of square 
yards of leaf space, a group of these tiny cre- 
atures will start and stop tapping at the same 
instant, 
Perhaps in some far-distant age, mankind 
will begin remotely to understand the signifi- 
cance of the music of the plant world and its 
allies. We have no right to say that the plants 
are not true musicians. While we may only 
understand their system of harmony in part, 
we can realize it contains hidden beauties 
just as the presence of microscopic organisms 
in the world is indicated by their effects rather 
than by actual perception. 
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