SONGS WITHOUT WORDS. 183 



an approach to the vocal organs of man. Even in lower vertebrates 

 themselves, as in many fishes, an organ of voice may be altogether 

 wanting, and sounds, as we shall hereafter see, may be produced in 

 fashions other than those in which man produces vocal sounds. 

 What may have to be said of the voice of higher animals may be 

 left for our after- consideration. We may begin our researches in a 

 humbler vein, and investigate the " droning flight," the busy hum, 

 and the lover's chirpings of insect life. We find a suitable text in the 

 grasshoppers which chirp so loudly in the meadows around. A very 

 curious order of insects is that which includes the grasshoppers, 

 locusts, crickets, and earwigs as its chief representatives. They 

 possess mouths adapted for biting, hinder wings which have straight 

 ribs, and which are folded like fans, and, in the case of the first three 

 insects, greatly elongated hind legs, conferring upon them a marvel- 

 lous power of progressing by a series of leaps. As you hear the 

 " cricket on the hearth " call to its mate, or the cricket of the field 

 similarly attracting the notice of Mrs. Grasshopper, you might well be 

 tempted to believe that the insects possessed organs of voice analogous 

 to those of higher animals. But the song of the cricket is truly one 

 without words, inasmuch as it is produced by a mechanical process 

 of mere friction, and not through any more elaborate mechanism, 

 such as one expects to find in the vocal apparatus of higher life. It 

 is well to remark that in all cases the specialised sounds emitted by 

 insects are intended as " calls " to attract the notice of their mates. 

 It is a notable fact that the female insects, in the majority of instances, 

 do not possess the means for causing sounds, and when present in the 

 .latter this apparatus remains as a rule in an undeveloped condition. 

 Aristotle of old was perfectly familiar with this fact as applied to the 

 classic cicada ; and a not over-gallant poet, Xenarchus, hailing from 

 Rhodes, inspired possibly by the memories of many remonstrances 

 from the female side of the house, seizes the naturalist's text, and 

 declares 



Happy the cicadas' lives, 



Since all-voiceless are their wives. 



An observation of Mr. Bates, in his " Naturalist on the Amazons/' 

 clearly shows the purpose served of the " stridulation " as the 

 faculty of producing sound is named in insects. A male field-cricket, 

 like some gay troubadour, has been seen to take up his position at 

 the entrance of his burrow in the twilight. Loud and clear sound 

 his notes, until, on the approach of a partner, his song becomes more 

 subdued, softer, and all-expressive in its nature, and as the captivated 

 and charmed one approaches the singer she is duly caressed and 

 stroked with his antennae as if by way of commendation for her ready 

 response to his love-notes. Thus insect courtship progresses much 

 as in higher life, although, indeed, the siren-notes belong in the 



