NOISES OF INSECTS. 389 



the friction of the tongue and palpi a : but as he has not 

 stated his reasons for this opinion, I think his assertion 

 that he has ascertained this cannot be allowed to coun- 

 tervail Reaumur's experiments. 



I must next say a few words upon the angry chidings 

 of our little creatures ; for their anger sometimes vents 

 itself in sounds. I have often been amused with 

 hearing the indignant tones of a humble-bee while lying 

 upon its back. When I held my finger to it, it kicked 

 and scolded with all its might. Hive-bees when irritated 

 emit a shrill and peevish sound, continuing even when 

 they are held under water, which John Hunter says vi- 

 brates at the point of contact with the air-holes at the 

 root of their wings b . This sound is particularly sharp 

 and angry when they fly at an intruder. The same 

 sounds, or very similar ones, tell us when a wasp is of- 

 fended, and we may expect to be stung ; but this pas- 

 sion of anger in insects is so nearly connected with their 

 fear, that I need not enlarge further upon it. 



Concerning their shouts of joy and cries of sorrow I 

 have little to record : that pleasure or pain makes a dif- 

 ference in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable ; 

 but our auditory organs are not fine enough to catch all 

 their different modulations. When Schirach had once 

 smoked a hive to oblige the bees to retire to the top of 

 it, the queen with some of the rest flew away. Upon 

 this, those that remained in the hive sent forth a most 

 plaintive sound, as if they were all deploring their loss ; 

 when their sovereign was restored to them, these lugu- 

 brious sounds were succeeded by an agreeable humming, 



* Nmiv. Obs. \\. 300, note *. b In Phitus. Trans. 1792, 



