380 NOISES OF INSECTS. 



out interrupting its song. The giant cock-roach (Blatta 

 gigantea, which abounds in old timber houses in the 

 warmer parts of the world, makes a noise when the 

 family are asleep like a pretty smart rapping with the 

 knuckles three or four sometimes appearing to answer 

 each other. On this account in the West Indies it is 

 called the Drummer , and they sometimes beat such a 

 reveille, that only good sleepers can rest for them a . As 

 the animals of this genus generally come forth in the 

 night for the purpose of feeding, this noise is probably 

 connected with that subject. 



Insects also, at least many of the social ones, emit 

 peculiar noises while engaged in their various employ- 

 ments. If an ear be applied to a wasps or humble-bees 

 nest, or a bee-hive, a hum more or less intense may al- 

 ways be perceived. Were I disposed to play upon your 

 credulity, I might tell you, with Gcedart, that in every 

 humble-bees nest there is a trumpeter, who early in the 

 morning, ascending to its summit, vibrates his wings, 

 and sounding his trumpet for the space of a quarter of 

 an hour, rouses the inhabitants to work ! But since 

 Reaumur could never witness this, I shall not insist 

 upon your believing it, though the relater declares that 

 he had heard it with his ears, and seen it with his eyes, 

 and had called many to witness the vibrating and strepent 

 wings of this trumpeter humble-bee b . The blue sand- 

 wasp (Ammophila ? cyanea), which at all other times is 

 silent, when engaged in building its cells emits a singular 

 but pleasing sound, which may be heard at ten or twelve 

 yards distance . 



a Drury's Insects, iii. Preface. 



b Lister's Gcedart, 244 . Compare Reauni. vi. 30. 



c Bingley, Animal Biogr. iii. 1st Ed, 335. 



