INSECTS 283 



or less horny wings which produce sound when 

 vibrated; thus they get sound from the surface of 

 their own bodies by means of friction of part against 

 part, so that, except in a few cases, it is purely instru- 

 mental. And as the sound is produced voluntarily 

 for its own sake it is their music. 



We see, too, that its practice during millions of 

 generations has led to an infinite number of modifica- 

 tions in the structure of wings, legs and segments 

 in the hard covering; that in many kinds it has 

 brought about a complex stridulating apparatus; 

 that wings and legs have become studded with horny 

 processes and are used just as the violinist uses his 

 bow to strike upon and draw across the embossed 

 veinings, which serve the purpose of strings. In this 

 way the music of the orthopterous insects and in 

 other orders is produced. Even the small ants, which 

 we know are a wise people, have their aesthetic sense 

 and have developed a stridulating instrument; albeit 

 the sounds they draw from it for their own pleasure 

 are inaudible to us. 



In some insects the modification of structure has 

 been carried much further, as in the cicada in which 

 the entire body has become a marvellously elaborate 

 instrument of sound. A flat insect no bigger than your 

 thumb-nail can make himself heard a quarter of a 

 mile away, and often considerably further — think 

 of it! With a voice like that, proportioned to his 

 size, a man in Kent could start singing and bring 

 thousands of people in France running out of their 

 houses to listen to him. 



