12 WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



plates is a cavity across which is stretched a partition 

 made up of three distinct kinds of membranes for the 

 modulation of the tone ; at the top of each cavity is a 

 stiff, folded membrane which acts as a drumhead ; but 

 it is set in vibration by muscles instead of drumsticks, 

 and these muscles move so rapidly that we cannot dis- 

 tinguish the separate vibrations. Thus, our Lyreman is 

 provided with a very complicated pair of kettledrums, 

 which he plays with so much skill that his music sounds 

 more like that of a mandolin than of a drum. 



The cicada was regarded as almost divine by the 

 early Greeks. When Homer wished to compliment his 

 best orators he compared them to cicadas. Anacreon, 

 the most graceful of the lyric poets of Greece, addresses 

 him thus : — 



" Sweet prophet of summer, loved of the Muses, 

 Beloved of Phoebus who gave thee thy shrill song, 

 Old age does not wear upon thee ; 



Thou art earth-born, musical, impassive, without blood. 

 Thou art almost a god." 



The Greeks were so much attached to these insects 

 that they kept them in cages for the sake of their 

 songs ; they wore images of them in their hair. The 

 song of the cicada was the name given to the sound of 

 the harp ; a cicada upon a harp was the emblem of the 

 science of music. We all know the beautiful story of 



