304 DIVISION III]. ARTICULATED ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. INSECTA. 
processes, each of which presses upon one of the plates, and, when it is 
raised, prevents it from being elevated too much, and causes it to 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. 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 throats, 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 in the anterior portion of the abdomen, and 
which is divided into two principal cells by a horny 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 children think they see a little mirror of 
the thinnest and most transparent glass, or that a little blade of the most 
beautiful tale is set in the bottom of each of these little cells. That which 
one might see, if this were the case, would in no way differ from what one 
actually sees; the membrane, which is stretched out. at the bottom of the 
cells, does not yield in transparency either to glass or to tale ; and if one looks 
at it obliquely, one sees in it all the beautiful colors of the rainbow. It 
seems as if the Cicada has two glazed windows through which we can see into 
the interior of its body.” 
The Cicadas remain on trees, whose sap they suck by means of their 
sharp-pointed beaks. It is difficult enough to catch them, for, owing to 
their large, highly-developed wings, they fly rapidly away on the slightest 
noise. 
They inhabit the south of Europe; the whole of Africa, from north to 
south; America, in the same latitudes as Europe; the whole of the centre 
and south of Asia, New Holland, and the islands of Oceanica. The Cicada, 
which in hot climates always exposes itself to the ardor of the most scorch- 
ing sun, is not found in temperate or cold regions. The consequence is, 
that the southern nations know it very well, whilst in the north the large, 
green grasshopper, which is so common in those regions, and whose song 
closely resembles that of the Cicada, is commonly taken for it. 
Another remarkable group of the Cicadariaw is the genus 
Funcora. — There are several species, some of which, especially in South 
America, are very large. They have very large, elongated heads, which 
nearly equals three quarters of the rest of the body. This prolongation is 
horizontal, vesiculous, enlarged to about the same breadth as the head, and 
