THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



nation; and between their notes, there was the 

 difference of exactly a musical tone. 



Darwin speaks of the nocturnal sounds at Rio 

 Janeiro: — "After the hotter days, it was delicious 

 to sit quietly in the garden, and watch the even- 

 ing pass into night. Nature, in these climes, 

 chooses her vocalists from more humble performers 

 than in Europe. A small frog of the genus Hvhi 

 [i.e., of the family Hyladse, the tree-frogs already 

 alluded to], sits on a blade of grass about an 

 inch above the surface of the water, and sends 

 forth a pleasing chirp ; when several are together, 



they sing in harmony on different notes 



Various cicadae and crickets at the same time 

 keep up a ceaseless shrill cry, but which, softened 

 by the distance, is not unpleasant. Every even- 

 ing, after dark, this great concert commenced ; 

 and often have I sat listening to it, until my at- 

 tention has been drawn away by some curious 

 passing insect."* 



Edwards, in his very interesting voyage up the 

 Amazon, heard one night a bell-like note, which he 

 eagerly concluded to be the voice of the famed 

 bell-bird. But on asking his Indian attendants 

 what it was that was "gritando," he was told 

 that it was a toad, — "everything that sings by 

 night is a toadf' 



I doubt much whether the voice first referred to 

 in the following extract ought not to be referred 

 to the same reptilian agency: — 



"During our ride home [in Tobago], I was 

 startled by hearing what I fully imagined was the 

 whistle of a steam-engine ; but I was informed it 

 was a noise caused by a beetle that is peculiar to 

 Tobago. It is nearly the size of a man's hand, 

 and fixing itself against a tree, it commences a 



* " Naturalist's Voyage " Ced. 1852), p. SSL 

 36 



