132 CRY OF THE DEATH'S-HEAD. 



it with an accordant tone of evil augury. However fanciful 

 its prophecy of ill to others, the lament of this unusually com- 

 plaining creature would seem to be a real expression of being 

 ill at ease, itself, since, according to Reaumur, when " shut up 

 in a box, it cries ; when caught, it cries ; and when held be- 

 tween the ringers, it never ceases crying." 



Naturalists have been sorely puzzled and widely at variance 

 as to the organs producing this frequently-employed voice. 

 One supposes it to proceed from the body ; another thinks it 

 is produced by friction of the chest upon the abdomen, the 

 wings having nothing to do therewith ; a third, tout au con- 

 traire, supposes he has discovered the organs of sound in a 

 pair of scales at the wing's base, played upon by the action of 

 the pinions themselves.* Beaumur opined that the cry pro- 

 ceeded from the insect's head, its immediate source being the 

 friction of the palpi against the tongue. Passerini, Dumeril, 

 and Duponchel have traced the origin of the sound to the 

 interior of the insect's head ; from which, according to the 

 statement of the latter, the sound continues to proceed on 

 separation of the body. 



Yet later than all the above varied opinions, and only ac- 

 cordant with one, comes that of Mr. Denny, according to 

 which, the true organs, producing the death's-head's melan- 

 choly strain, are two large moveable horny scales, at the bases 

 of the upper wings, fixed on the thorax, and covering each a 



* M. De Johet. 



