Smi 7? 



But the insect-world is altogether a world of 

 goblins and fairies : creatures with organs of 

 which we cannot discover the use, and senses 

 of which we cannot imagine the nature ; 

 creatures with myriads of eyes, or with eyes 

 in their backs, or with eyes moving about at 

 the ends of trunks and horns ; creatures with 

 ears in their legs and bellies, or with brains in 

 their waists! If some of them happen to have 

 voices outside of their bodies instead of inside, 

 the fact ought not to surprise anybody. 



I have not yet succeeded in finding any Japan- 

 ese verses alluding to the stridulatory apparatus 

 of semi, though I think it probable that such 

 verses exist. Certainly the Japanese have been 

 for centuries familiar with the peculiarities of 

 their own singing insects. But I should not 

 now presume to say that their poets are in- 

 correct in speaking of the "voices" of crickets 

 and of cicadae. The old Greek poets who ac- 

 tually describe insects as producing music with 

 their wings and feet, nevertheless speak of the 

 " voices," the " songs," and the " chirruping " of 

 such creatures, just as the Japanese poets do. 

 For example, Meleager thus addresses the cricket : 



