248 EYE SPY 
the meadow chorus, and he always gets the credit 
as the chief soloist, and we say, "Hark! there's a 
* locust,' " when we ought to know better. Let us 
try and straighten out this confusion of terms, and 
let the younger generation at least begin the re- 
form that shall eventually set matters right and 
correct this wide-spread popular error. 
Our cicada belongs to quite another family of 
insects. Instead of jaws for biting, as our riddling 
" grasshopper," the cicada has only a long " beak 
for sucking," and this feature alone connects him 
with the tribe of " bugs." Moreover, his methods 
of music-making are very different from those of 
the " grasshopper " tribe. It is the male only that 
makes the music, and his instrument is a drum. 
He carries two of these inclosed within his body, 
the opening of each being covered beneath by a 
broad plate, which is easily seen on the under sur- 
face of the body. Deep within lies the " drum," 
and the hard and hollow body of the insect acts 
as a resonator or sounding-board. This drummer 
does not use his legs as drum-sticks, as might be 
supposed, his drum being vibrated by twitching 
muscles and cords. 
The method by which the sound is produced 
may be illustrated by a simple experiment. Take 
a small piece of stiff, sized writing-paper or smooth 
Manilla paper, and by pressure with some round- 
ed blunt instrument produce a slight hollow or 
