FIFTH WEEK] July 205 



is a fair comparison, and when a branch loaded with these 

 insects is shaken, the sound rises to a shrill screech or 

 scream. This noise is supposed in fact is definitely 

 known to attract the female insect, and although there 

 may be in it some tender notes which we fail to distinguish, 

 yet let us hope that the absence of any highly organised 

 auditory organ may result in reducing the effect of a 

 steam-engine whistle to an agreeable whisper! It is 

 thought that the vibrations are felt rather than heard, in 

 the sense that we use the word "hear"; if one has ever 

 had a cicada zizz in one's hand, the electrical shocks 

 which seem to go up the arm help the belief in this idea. 

 To many of us the song of the cicada softened by dis- 

 tance will ever be pleasant on account of its associa- 

 tions. When one attempts to picture a hot August day 

 in a hay-field or along a dusty road, the drowsy zee-ing 

 of this insect, growing louder and more accelerated and 

 then as gradually dying away, is a focus for the mind's 

 eye, around which the other details instantly group them- 

 selves. 



The apparatus for producing this sound is one of the 

 most complex in all the animal kingdom. In brief, it 

 consists of two external doors, capable of being partly 

 opened, and three internal membranes, to one of which 

 is attached a vibrating muscle, which, put in motion, sets 

 all the others vibrating in unison. 



We attach a great deal of importance to the fact of 

 being educated to the appreciation of the highest class of 

 music. We applaud our Paderewski, and year after year 

 are awed and delighted with wonderful operatic music, 



