INSECTS WEATHER-WISE. 361 



the merry grasshopper, chirping all day in the 

 field, is heard by its mate ? or that the cricket 

 on the hearth sings for its fellows, or only to 

 please our ears ? or does the tap of the death-tick 

 beetle, formerly commemorated, draw forth no 

 answering tap from its companion on the other side 

 of the post ? All these instances, and countless 

 more that might be mentioned, indicate, beyond 

 a question, that insects have the faculty of hearing, 

 and render it extremely probable that the antenna 

 are the organs by which this function is performed. 

 But it is probable that they serve another and 

 not less important purpose. The country folk, 

 who are generally very weather-wise, and whose 

 sayings always deserve a great deal of atten- 

 tion, because they are very commonly founded 

 both upon observation of facts, and experience, 

 will always assure us that the high flight of 

 swallows in their search after insects is a certain 

 token of fair weather; their low flight of ap- 

 proaching wet. Why is this ? Can insects 

 foretell the state of the weather ? and if so, by 

 what means ? That insects have a meteorome- 

 trical power of foretelling the state of the weather, 

 appears beyond a doubt. To select a few in- 



