236 TREE HOPPERS. 



other species just mentioned. The Eucal3^pti 

 trees were now covered with a profusion of white 

 blossoms, attracting multitudes of parroquets, 

 who revel in the sweets afforded by the nec- 

 taries. 



As the summer season was now fully set in, 

 (December,) the previous silence of the woods 

 was broken by the incipient, shrill, chirping 

 noises which resounded over them, occasioned 

 by the male Tettigonice, or tree hoppers, emerg- 

 ing from the larva into the winged state ; the 

 cases the fly had left, being seen on almost every 

 tree or post. This genus is remarkable for the 

 instrument with which it cuts grooves in the 

 wood for the purpose of depositing its eggs. The 

 musical organs, or drums, only found in the 

 males, are not less interesting; and the best pub- 

 lished account respecting them is that by Reamur, 

 quoted in the very interesting work, entitled 

 " Insect Miscellanies." The aborigines call these 

 insects " Galang, galang," and formerly used 

 them as food ; first stripping off the wings, they 

 ate them in the raw state ; that is, as the native 

 blacks told me at Yas, " when no white feller 

 here, and black feller no get bread or yam.'' 



My notice was particularly directed by the na- 

 tives to the drums in the male insects, as the 

 means by which they produced their thrilling 



