NOISES OF INSECTS. 385 



lie justly remarks, there may be still finer shades which, 

 escaping our organs, may be distinctly perceived by the 

 bees a . He seems however to doubt by what means this 

 sound is produced. Reasoning analogically, the motion 

 of the wings should occasion it. We have seen that 

 they are in constant motion when it is uttered. Probably 

 the intensity of the tones and their succession are regu- 

 lated by the intensity of the vibrations of the wings. 

 Reaumur remarks, that the different tones of the bees, 

 whether more or less grave or acute, are produced by 

 the strokes, more or less rapid, of their wings against the 

 air, and that perhaps their different angles of inclination 

 may vary the sound. The friction of their bases like- 

 wise against the sides of the cavity in which they are in- 

 serted, as in the case of the fly lately mentioned, or 

 against the base-covers ( Tegulce\ may produce or mo- 

 dulate their sounds, a bee whose wings are eradicated 

 being perfectly mute b . This last assertion, however, is 

 contradicted by John Hunter, who affirms that bees 

 produce a noise independent of their wings, emitting 

 a shrill and peevish sound though they are cut off, and 

 the legs held fast c . Yet it does not appear from his ex- 

 periment that the wings were eradicated. And if they 

 were only cut off, the friction of their base might cause 

 the sound. I have before noticed the remarkable fact, 

 that the queens educated according to M. Schirach's 

 method are absolutely mute ; on which account the bees 

 keep no guard around their cells, nor retain them an 

 instant in them after their transformation d . 



The passions, also, which urge us to various exclama- 



a Huber, i. 260. ii. 292. b Reaum. v. 617. 



"' Philos. Trans. 1792. d Huber, i. 292, 



VOL. II. 2 C 



