NOISES OF INSECTS. 395 
a rather loud sound, and that the male, obedient to this 
call, soon attends her, and they pair*. 
As I have nothing to communicate to you with respect 
to the love-songs of other insects, my further observations 
will be confined to the two tribes lately mentioned, the 
Gryllide and the Cicada. 
No sound is to me more agreeable than the chirping of 
most of the Gryllidze ; it gives life to solitude, and always 
conveys to my mind the idea of a perfectly happy being. 
As these creatures are now very properly divided into 
several genera, I shall say a few words upon the song of 
such as are known to be vocal, separately. 
The remarkable genus Pneumora—whose pellucid ab- 
domen is blown up like a bladder, on which account they 
are called Blaazops by the Dutch colonists at the Cape 
—in the evening, for they are silent in the day, make a 
tremulous and tolerably loud noise, which is sometimes 
heard on every side. - The species of this genus have a 
much greater claim to the name of Fiddlers, than the in- 
sect lately mentioned, since their sound is produced by 
passing the hind-legs over a number of short transverse 
elevated ridges on the abdomen, which may be called 
their jiddle-strings*. 
The cricket tribe are a very noisy race, and their chirp- 
ing is caused by the friction of the bases of their elytra 
against each other. For this purpose there is something 
peculiar in their structure, which I shall describe to you. 
The elytra of both sexes are divided longitudinally into 
two portions; a vertical or lateral one, which covers the 
sides; and a horizontal. or dorsal one, which covers the 
@ Oliv. Entomol. i. Pref. ix. b Sparrman, Voy. i. 312, 
© Prare XXIX. Fic, 18. ee 
