The Pine Cockchafer 



it try to overawe its enemies with noise? 

 Could the sound-apparatus, at the requisite 

 moment be a means of defence or intimida- 

 tion? If the Capricorn and the Cicada 

 made a sound when in danger, then why are 

 the Decticus and the Cricket silent? 



After all, we know next to nothing of the 

 determining causes of insect phonetics. We 

 know very little more of the sounds per- 

 ceived. Do the insect's ears catch the same 

 sounds as ours do? Is it sensible, in partic- 

 ular, to what we call musical sounds ? With- 

 out, I may say, any hope of solving this ob- 

 scure problem, I tried an experiment which 

 is worth relating. One of my readers, filled 

 with enthusiasm for what my animals taught 

 him, sent me a musical box from Geneva, 

 hoping that it might be useful to me in my 

 acoustic researches. And it really was so. 

 Let me tell the story. It will give me the 

 opportunity of thanking the kind sender of 

 the present. 



The little musical-box has a fairly varied 

 selection of pieces, all translated into notes 

 of crystal clearness which should, to my 

 thinking, attract the attention of an insect 

 audience. One of the tunes best suited to my 

 207 



