232 TETTIX AND CICADA. 



the notes of a trumpet ; while Smeathman speaks of another 

 common in Africa, which emits so loud a sound as to be heard 

 at the distance of half a mile, or, when introduced into the 

 house, to silence by its song the voices of a whole company. 

 The mighty " waits" of the Fulgora, or Great Lan thorn Fly 

 of Guyana, an insect not of the same but an allied family, 

 has also obtained the name of " Scare-sleep/' its din being 

 likened to the sound of razor-grinding. 



On the whole, therefore, it would appear pretty clearly that 

 loudness is the main characteristic of the Cicada's song. Yet 

 when we recognize, in this insect minstrel, the " Anacreontic 

 Grasshopper," the " Son of Phoebus," the " Favourite of the 

 Muses," the " Nightingale of the Nymphs," the " Emblem 

 of perpetual Youth and Joy," the " Prophet of the Summer," 

 we no longer marvel that its notes, however harsh, should 

 have sounded melodious even in the ear of the polished 

 Athenian. 



To descend to present times and native performers, first, 

 there is our own familiar and representative, the Hearth 

 Cricket, for whose crinking chirp even we can scarcely chal- 

 lenge much intrinsic merit, yet do we regard it as a song, 

 and a merry one; and why? because the faggot always 

 crackles, and the kettle sings, if not in actual, in imaginative 

 chorus. 



But besides the sensations of involuntary pleasure which we 

 have often owed, without knowing it, to Insect Minstrelsy, it 

 affords matter for thought-inquiry, concerning the way in 

 which it is produced. It is all of an instrumental and not 

 vocal character ; and, among the varied mechanisms of natural 

 objects, the instruments of sound furnished to insect musicians 

 are none of the least curious. 



That of the celebrated Cicada (the classic lyre player) an 

 insect rarely seen in England, but still common in the south 

 of Europe, consists, as described by Reaumur, of a pair of 

 drums fixed one on each side of the trunk ; these are covered 



