lS8 STUDIES IN LIFE AND SENSE. 



of honey hums continually and contentedly on A', but if it is excited 

 or angry it produces a very different note. Thus, then," concludes 

 this author, " the sounds of insects do not merely serve to bring 

 the sexes together ; they are not merely 'love-songs,' but also serve, 

 like any true language, to express the feelings." 



Every one must have noticed that the humming or buzzing of flies 

 varies occasionally, and in accordance with the state of the insect ; 

 the sharp, high, excited "buzz" of the caught fly being markedly 

 different from the placid hum of its ordinary existence. Landois 

 maintains that a relatively low tone prevails during flight in flies ; that 

 the tone becomes higher when the wings are held to prevent their 

 vibration ; and that the highest tone of all is heard when all move- 

 ment in the body of the insect is prevented. This last, he maintains, 

 is that to which the term "voice," or, as we may put it, " song with- 

 out words," may be applied. As such, it is produced by the spiracles 

 or breathing apertures of the fly's chest, and it may be heard w r hen 

 every other part of the insect has been removed. The low note of 

 ordinary life is caused by the rapid vibration of the wings in the air 

 the sound of F being produced by 352 vibrations of the wings per 

 second ; whilst when held captive a fly will move its wings 330 times 

 in the same space of time. The second sound, or that produced 

 when the fly is held captive by the wings, is caused, or at least is 

 accompanied, by conspicuous movements of the joints of the tail, 

 and by the frequent and rapid motion of the head against the front 

 of the chest. 



Such are the most prominent facts which entomology brings to 

 view regarding the " voices " of insects. Spiders of certain species 

 are known to be attracted by music, a fact which, if of valid nature, 

 would appear to reverse the order of the tarantula's famed but legen- 

 dary procedure. And it is an unquestionable fact that some male 

 spiders possess the power of making a rasping noise by rubbing the 

 hinder part of the chest against the front of the abdomen or tail. 



From the insect-class and from the great army of the invertebrates 

 at large, we pass to the confines of the sub -kingdom which claims 

 man as its head ; and in the course of an orderly survey of the field 

 before us we arrive at the fishes as the lowest of the vertebrate group. 

 To speak of "sound-producing" fishes appears to be an anomalous 

 proceeding, inasmuch as the silence of fish existence is usually ac- 

 cepted as an article of unquestioning faith. But clear evidence 

 exists that certain fishes do produce sounds of very definite character. 

 Amongst those large-headed fishes the gurnards, two, named the 

 " piper" and "cuckoo" species, are so named from the notes they 

 emit on being taken from the water. These sounds are due to the 

 muscular movements of the "swimming-bladder" of the fish, and are 

 said to range over nearly an octave. Certain male fishes of the genus 



