VOCAL ¢ INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF INSECTS. 387 
melody that confers a charm to the wood-walk, where the green 
ribbons of the Scolopendra hang from the rocks, and the mossy 
trees are feathered over with polypody. As they here sit and 
sing to themselves they appear to keep their wings at rest, but, 
seen beneath a strong magnifying power, these are observed to 
be in ceaseless vibration, and when this ends the fly-music is no 
longer heard; yet, as Dr. Landois affirms, the melody is no 
doubt a fluting through the large spiracles of the metathorax, 
whose mouth is sometimes trumpet-shaped, as in Syrphus 
baleatus, or as in the larger Helophilus pendulus, which I once 
carefully dissected, the two lips are covered within with a 
currycomb of thin membranes, suggestive of a Jew’s-harp that 
blown upon returns a sharp sound. The little Syrphus bifasciatus, 
that balances in the air in May under the shade of the trees, and 
whose thorax glitters like a drop of gold as it descends when 
weary and sips at the blue Veronica, is wont to sing in content- 
mént as it basks in sunshine on the nut-leaves; the yellow-banded 
S. ribesu, whose sluggish larva feeds on the green aphides that 
infest the rose-bushes when in flower at the end of June emerges 
from its cocoon, and afterwards, when the nuts are ripening, its 
enchanting melody is heard to resound like an Aolian harp 
where it sits. recluse in sun and shade. I have heard its plain- 
tive song in August, and it becomes a solace in the chilly days 
at the close of September, when the “‘sprink! sprink!” of the 
Cinereous Leaf-Cricket resounds in the blackberry-bushes. In 
August and September the larger Sericomya borealis, richly laced 
with gold, makes melody to itself on the moorland, and enclosed 
in a pill-box it continues its song. You may see it sitting and 
singing on the rugged Grampians, on the rocks that crown the 
tors of Devon, or on the Surrey hills, and I have met with it in 
Western France ; but it is most frequently seen near brushwood 
that grows on damp spots. I believe I once saw the female 
ovipositing on a rotten stump. In the ‘ Proceedings’ of the 
Entomological Society, new series, p. 85, it is stated that Seri- 
comya lapponum or lappona makes a loud hum or buzzing during 
flight, and when at rest a note particularly shrill, loud, and dis- 
tinct, as clear as that of a musician’s pitch-key. It must be 
supposed that flies can hear, and that they take a delight in the 
songs they sing; certainly the Crane-flies have membranes on 
