14 



attuned to the tiiior liarmoiiies of uatiire, of a slight breezy sensation 

 rather than a soiuul, but one quite api)reciable by a clear bearing. If 

 the moths are driv^eu away, the sound ceases, and there is no doubt but 

 that it had been produced by the males in paying court to their mates, 

 and i)robably by rubbing the antenuce at their tips across the costal 

 nervaire, which will be seen to be considerably thickened about its 

 middle, just where the apex of the antenna would reach it. This thick- 

 ening of the costa is much more apparent in an allied species, ^4. /?//>. 

 lorqainii, than in our common form. With the latter I was enabled 

 some few years ago, while walking across the Public Garden in Boston, 

 to notice the peculiarity I have spoken of. The insect was in the great- 

 est possible abundance upon a small bush of a plant of the Composite 

 family, the name of which 1 do not know, not less, I should think, than 

 from two hundred and tifty to three hundred specimens being about 

 the single shrub. I distinctly heard the islight humming noise to which 

 I have alluded, and am quite confident that it did not proceed from 

 the vibration of the wings. 



A more remarkable instance of stridulation, and certainly the most 

 striking that has come under my notice, I was fortunate enough to 

 witness during my residence in Australia. I was collecting insects in 

 the Plenty Ranges, about 20 miles from Melbourne, and in the burning 

 heat of mid-day had sat down to rest and pin my captures under the 

 shade of a thick acacia tree. I was astonished and almost startled at 

 a peculiar sound apparently verj^ near me, which was unlike anything 

 I had ever heard, and which I at first thought was the voice of some 

 unfamiliar bird. I listened intently, looking in the direction of the 

 noise, but could see nothing. I took up my net and walked np the 

 opening in the woods, the sound still continuing, and greatl^^ exciting 

 my curiosity. It was very loud and distinct and not unlike " whiz, 

 whiz," repeated by the mouth with the teeth closed. I had proceeded 

 about thirty yards when the noise suddenly stopped. I sat down and 

 waited, thinking that I should again hear it and be able to trace it to its 

 source. I was not disappointed, for in a few minutes it again appeared, 

 and this time quite close tome. I looked very carefully and in an opening, 

 buzzing about with a swaying lateral motion, were two or three insects, 

 which at first sight T took to be some species of Hymenoptera. I gave 

 a swee{) with my net and made a capture which was soon safe within 

 my collecting bottle. I\Iy heart beat violently, as I found that 1 had 

 taken a lovely black and orange moth, such as I had never before seen. 

 I was alone, and had no one to whom I could communicate my pleasure, 

 but I clearly understood Mr. Wallace's feeling upon his first capture of 

 Ornithopiera o'cestts, which he so graphically describes in his "Malay 

 Archipelago," and I felt as if I should have gloried in making those 

 primeval woods echo with my shouts. 



Three more of the beautiful little creatures soon found their way to 

 my collecting box, and the records of that day's excitement still remain 



