6 WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



but whether they gain their intelligence through 

 hearing different sounds, as we do, is a matter not 

 yet settled. We know, however, that the piping of 

 a young queen in her cell, just before a second swarm 

 emerges, excites the whole colony greatly; thus we 

 have evidence that bees are sensitive to at least one 

 sound. 



The older naturalists made futile experiments to 

 discover whether the sounds of the bees and flies were 

 involuntary and caused simply by the vibrations of the 

 air made by rapid motions of the wings ; or if the note 

 given off was caused by air expelled from the spiracles 

 against the vibrating wings, on the same plan as the 

 note of the jews'-harp. Recent investigations seem to 

 show that the vibration of the walls of the thorax, as 

 well as the vibrations of the wings, cause the sound. 

 As for myself, I prefer to believe that the mellow hum 

 which pervades the air of midsummer afternoons is a 

 voluntary hymn of praise for sunshine and blue skies. 



The Pipers 



The poets have not been generally complimentary 



to flies. Tennyson, in one of the most bitter stanzas 



of "Maud," says: — 



"Far off from the clamor of liars belied in the 

 hubbub of lies 



