NOISES OF INSECTS. 393 
sound also ceased ; and upon removing only one of them, 
though it continued, it became much more feeble?. Huber, 
however, denies that it is produced by the friction of the 
tongue and palpi? : but, as he has not stated his reasons 
for this opinion, I think his assertion that he has ascer- 
tained this cannot be allowed to countervail Reaumur’s 
experiments. 
I must next say a few words upon the angry chidings 
of our little creatures; for their anger sometimes vents it- 
self in sounds. I have often been amused with hearing 
the indignant tones of a humble-bee while lying upon its 
back. When I held my finger to it, it kicked and scold- 
ed with all its might. Hive-bees when irritated emit a 
shrill and peevish sound, continuing even when they are 
held under water, which John Hunter says vibrates at 
the point of contact with the air-holes at the root of their 
wings*. This sound is particularly sharp and angry 
when they fly at an intruder. ‘The same sounds, or very 
similar ones, tell us when a wasp is offended, and we may 
expect to be stung ;—but this passion of anger in insects 
is so nearly connected with their fear, that I need not en- 
large further upon it. 
Concerning their shouts of joy and cries of sorrow I 
have little to record : that pleasure or pain makes a diffe- 
rence in the tones of vocal insects is not improbable ; but 
our auditory organs are not fine enough to catch all their 
different modulations. When Schirach had once smoked 
a hive to oblige the bees to retire to the top of it, the 
queen with some of the rest flew away. Upon this, those 
that remained in the hive sent forth a most plaintive 
a Reaum. ii. 290—. b Nouv. Obs. ii. 300, note *, 
¢ In Philos. Trans. 1792. 
