HEMIPTERA. 



105 



Fig. 78. Cicada 

 (Male). 



consider the apparatus for producing the song, or rather the noise, 



of the male Cicada, and the structure of the 



female's auger. We are indebted to Reaumur 



for the discovery of the mechanism by the aid 



of which the Cicada produces the sharp noise 



which announces its whereabouts from afar. 



We will give a summary of the celebrated 



memoir in which the French naturalist has 



so admirably described the musical apparatus 



of the Cicada.* 



It is not in the throat that the Cicada's organ 

 of sound is placed, but on the abdomen. On 

 examining the abdomen of the male of a large 

 species of Cicada, one remarks on it two squa- 

 mose plates, of pretty good size, which are 

 not found on the females. Each plate has 

 one side straight ; the rest of its outline is rounded. It is by the 

 side which is rectilinear that the plate is fixed immediately 

 underneath the third pair of legs. It can be slightly raised with 

 an effort, by two prickly pegs, each of which presses upon one of 

 the plates, and when it is raised, prevents it from being raised 

 too much, and make it fall back again immediately. 



If the two plates are removed and turned over on the thorax, 

 and the parts which they hide laid bare, one is struck by 

 the appearance which is presented. " One cannot doubt that all 

 one sees has been made to enable the Cicada to sing/' says 

 Eeaumur. "When one compares the parts which have been 

 arranged so that it may be able to sing, as we may say from its 

 belly, with the organs of our throat, one finds that ours have not 

 been made with more care than those by means of which the Cicada 

 gives forth sounds which are not always agreeable." 



We here perceive a cavity which has been placed in the anterior 

 portion of the abdomen, and which is divided into two principal 

 cells by a scaly triangle. 



" The bottom of each cell offers to children who catch the Cicada, 

 a spectacle which amuses them, and which may be admired by 

 men who know how to make the best use of their reason. The 



Memoire, tome v. 4to. 



