NOTES AND QUERIES. 517 



of our south coast. Thamnotrizon cinereus, L., may be often heard 

 uttering a short sharp " tss, tss " in brambles and thickets before a shower 

 of rain, or on a fine evening in the late summer and autumn ; and it often 

 chirps late into the night. The " Canadian Band," as the natives of the 

 Dominion call the incessant chirping of insects after nightfall, is not heard 

 in Britain, but in most countries, especially in the tropics, the sound is 

 very loud, persistent and annoying. The chirp of the Cricket is well 

 known, ana also possesses ventriloquial properties to a certain extent. 



This power of stridulation, in the Saltatorial Orthoptera, is confined to 

 the males, except in one curious family, the Ephippigeridse, confined to the 

 south of Europe and the north of Africa, in which the female is also 

 capable of producing a sound when irritated or frightened. I have never 

 heard any insect of this family perform, but should think that they are 

 able to chirp very loudly. The elytra are abbreviated until they are quite 

 rudimentary and useless for anything but musical purposes ; the posterior 

 part of the pronotum is raised, and seems to act as a sounding-board, as 

 Darwin noticed (op. cit. p. 284). It was this form of the pronotum that 

 suggested to Serville the name Ephippigera, from its resemblance to a 

 saddle. One interesting effect of this power of stridulation among the 

 Orthoptera is that it puts, or seems to put, a check upon a strong tendency 

 to abortion of the organs of flight. The wings themselves are not affected, 

 and in a large proportion of species are quite rudimentary. The elytra of 

 the females are often much smaller than in the males, as their services are 

 not required for musical purposes. But in the males, even if the wings are 

 abortive and the elytra useless for flight, the basal part at least of the latter 

 usually remains, sometimes very highly modified, for the purpose of perform- 

 ing stridulation. The comparative development of the organs of flight in the 

 Orthoptera is such an inconstant character, that no species is based upon 

 their abortion or perfect development. There are a large number of species 

 in which the wings are abbreviated normally, and perfectly developed by 

 aberration (perhaps atavism), and vice versa. In our commonest Grass- 

 hopper, Stenobothrus parallelus, Zett., the wings are rudimentary, and in 

 the females the elytra also; but in the males the latter are perfectly 

 developed for stridulation ; yet there is a rare variety in which the wings 

 are perfectly developed. I possess a very curious and rare variety of the 

 tiny Cricket, Tridactylus variegatus, Latr., with the wings perfectly deve- 

 loped and caudate, the typical form having entirely abbreviated organs of 

 flight. — Malcolm Burr (Bellagio, East Grinstead). 



Stridulation of Cicadidse in Mashunuland. — You will observe that in 

 accordance with your request I have paid special attention to the Cicadas, 

 and very interesting insects I have found them to be. Personally I was 

 much surprised and pleased to find so many different species in so limited 



