124 OMKNSKTTKR : 



a harsh and deafening note, like tht)se of some other coun- 

 tries, it would hardly have been an object of such a flection. 

 That it was not is clearly proved by the connection which 

 was supposed to exist between it and music. Thus the sound 

 of this insect and of the harp were called by one and the 

 same name. A cicada sitting upon a harp was a usual 

 emblem of the science of music, which was thus accounted 

 for: When two rival musicians, Kunomus and Ariston, were 

 contending upon that instrument, a cicada flying to the 

 former and sitting upon his harp supplied the place of a 

 broken string and so secured to him the victory. To excel 

 this insect in singing seems to have been the highest com- 

 mendation of a singer ; and even the eloquence of Plato was 

 not thought to suffer by a comparison with it. At Surinam 

 the noise of a certain cicada was supposed so much to 

 resemble the sound of a harp or lyre, that it is there called 

 the harper. Whether the Grecian cicadas at present maintain 

 their ancient character for music, we cannot say. 



Those of other countries, however, have been held in less 

 estimation for their powers of song ; or rather have been exe- 

 crated for the deafening din that they produce. Virgil 

 accuses those of Italy of bursting the v^ery shrubs with their 

 noise, while a modern traveler observes that this species, 

 which is very common, makes a most disagreeable, dull 

 chirping. It is reported that the Brazilian cicadas sing so 

 loud as to be heard at the distance of a mile. This is as if a 

 man of ordinary stature, supposing the powers of his voice 

 increased in the ratio of his size, could be heard all over the 

 world. So that Stentor himself, compared with these insects, 

 becomes a mute. 



How appropriate on a sultry summer day is the languid 

 " z-z-z-z-z-z-7. " of our native annual cicada, erroneously 

 called "locust!" The very lassitude induced by extreme 

 heat seems to have focussed in the lament of this ubicjuitous 

 insect. But occasionally the monody is staccatoed by a 

 wail of terror as the artist becomes the bootv of its arch 



