372 NOISES OF INSECTS. 



the name of voice ; then I will grant that insects have a 

 voice. But, decide this question as we will, we all know 

 that by some means or other, at certain seasons and on 

 various occasions, these little creatures make a great din 

 in the world. I must therefore now bespeak your at- 

 tention to this department of their history. 



In discussing this subject, I shall consider the noises 

 insects emit during their motions when they are feed- 

 ing, or otherwise employed when they are calling or 

 commanding or when they are under the influence of 

 the passions; of fear, of anger, of sorrow, joy, or love. 



The only kind of locomotion during which these ani- 

 mals produce sounds, is flying: for though the hill- 

 ants (Formica ntfa), as I formerly observed a , make a 

 rustling noise with their feet when walking over dry 

 leaves, I know of no other insect the tread of which is 

 accompanied by sound except indeed the flea, whose 

 steps, a lady assures me, she always hears when it paces 

 over her night-cap, and that it clicks as if it was walk- 

 ing in pattens ! That the flight of numbers of insects 

 is attended by a humming or booming is known to al- 

 most every one ; but that the great majority move 

 through the air in silence, has not perhaps been so often 

 observed. Generally speaking, those that fly with the 

 most force and rapidity, and with wings seemingly mo- 

 tionless, make the most noise; while those that fly gently 

 and leisurely, and visibly fan the air with their wings, 

 yield little or no sound. 



Amongst the beetle tribes (Coleoptera), none is more 

 noticed, or more celebrated for " wheeling its droning 



* See above, p. 98. 



