INSECT MUSICIANS — SNODGRASS 447 



lengthwise by a medium septum. It is present in the females, 

 which shows that it is not necessarily an accessory of the sound-pro- 

 ducing apparatus, though it has become a necessary part of this 

 organ in the male. If it is a part of the alimentary canal it is dif- 

 ficult to explain how it is always full of gas, and if this gas does not 

 communicate with the exterior air., as does the air in an ordinary 

 musical drum, it is difficult to see why it should not impede the 

 vibration of the tympana. The anatomy of these parts needs yet 

 further investigation. 



A well-known writer of popular fiction says this of the cicada: 

 " These wing shields " (meaning the front wings) " are divided 

 into several sections by the veins that hold the transparent parts 

 securely, and the outer edge has a stout rim. Using these rims for 

 the strings, the crisp space for sounding boards, and the femur of 

 the hind legs for bows, the locust amazed us by not singing at all, 

 for he fiddled away gayly as he led the insect orchestra." This is 

 bad enough, but the paragraph ends thus, " and they even played in 

 flight. I could not see how they flew, and fiddled on the wing 

 shields at the same time, but repeatedly I saw them do it." An ac- 

 companying photograph leaves no doubt of the identity of the in- 

 sect described — it is the 17-year locust or cicada. No particular 

 harm is done when a scientist makes a mistake and writes something 

 that is not true, because his works are read by few except other 

 scientists, and they soon take him to account for his error; but 

 it is deplorable when a popular writer becomes careless of the facts, 

 because his or her statements are read by the multitude uneducated 

 in matters of natural history and are widely accepted as the truth. 



THE SUPPOSED HEARING ORGANS OF INSECTS 



After seeing how well provided some insects are with sound-pro- 

 ducing organs, our curiosity is aroused to know what sound-receiv- 

 ing apparatus they possess. But here at once we are confronted by 

 that gulf which separates the external from the internal, the 

 physical from the psychic. If by some magic one of us could be 

 transformed for a day into an insect and thus be permitted to think 

 with its brain, feel with its nerves, and perceive with its sense 

 organs, we should know much more about insect psychology than 

 we probably ever shall know by our methods of dissection and ex- 

 perimentation. Insect sense organs are so different from our own 

 that even an accurate knowledge of their structure gives us no cer- 

 tain index of their use, and conclusive experiments on their func- 

 tions are so difficult to devise and so difficult to conduct that there 

 is yet little unanimity of opinion on any of the senses of insects 

 except that of sight. 



