HEMIPTERA. 35 



Abbot, an accurate observer and collector of natural history in North America, has 

 discovered four new species of Cicada, one of them nearly equal in size to our Cicada 

 Atrata. This, he says, was found in great abundance one season in some swampy 

 grounds near the Susquehanna river, and was remarkable on account of its loud noise, 

 which at a little distance resembled the ringing of horse-bells* 



Some naturalists have supposed that the sound of the Cicada is caused by the 

 rlapping of the lamellse against the abdomen ; and others, that it is only a noise occa- 

 sioned by the rustling of the segments of the body in the contractile motion of that 

 part. Beckmant imagines it is caused by beating the body and legs against the wings : 

 he has endeavoured to explain the meaning of ancient authors, and deduce its etymology 

 from that circumstance. \ 



Reaumur and Roesel have dissected several of the Cicada?, and discovered that the 

 lamellae cannot have that free motion necessary to cause such a sound ; but that it is 

 produced by some internal organs of the insect, and only issues through the opening 

 concealed under the lamellae as through the mouth of a musical instrument. § 



* Communicated by Mr. Abbot, in North America, to Mr. Francillon, in London. 



t Roes. Insecten Bellustigung. — Christian! Beckmanni, Bornensis, manuductionem ad latinam linguam : 

 nee non de originibus latinae linguae, &c. 



I It is the common opinion that the word Cicada has its origin from quod cito cadat, which, after a 

 general interpretation, implies that the Cicadae soon vanish, or are short-lived. Beckman maintains that this 

 opinion is absurd, and proves that its name is derived from singing, because w acetv signifies a sound produced 

 bv the motion of a little skin ; and that ciccum or cicum is a thin little skin of a pomegranate that parts the 

 kernels.— Beckman not knowing the insect, or not imagining that the little skin was an appendage to the 

 abdomen, concluded it must mean the transparent wings, and consequently that the sound was produced by 

 beatino- them against the body : but this interpretation, if applied to the lamellae instead of the wings, will 

 directly prove the origin of its name, and knowledge of the ancients. 



§ For the satisfaction of the curious reader, we detail the most interesting particulars concerning the 

 organization of these parts from Reaumur s Histoire des Insectes, and Roesel's Verschiedene auslaendische 

 sorten von Cicaden, fyc. 



The music of the Cicada is not caused by the motion of the lamellae as some have supposed. Reaumur 

 observes, that although the lamellce have a kind of moveable hinge, they have also a stiff and pointed tooth, or 

 spine, that prevents them from being lifted far back ; and if strained are very liable to be broken. 



From the anatomical description of Roesel, we find that, within the two hollows that are seen when the 

 lamellae are lifted up, two very smooth skins are visible ; these are highly polished, of nearly a semicircular 

 shape, and reflect prismatic colours : there is between these a hard brown projection, or corner which unites 

 with another piece above them in a longitudinal direction, to the under part of the breast. This longitudinal 

 piece divides a triangular red space or field into two parts, one on the right side, and the other on the left. 

 Above these, in a transverse direction, are seen two small yellow skins ; the lamellee in their natural position 

 conceal these organs because they fold exactly over them. 



Reaumur, in the exterior appearance of these parts, could discover nothing that could lead to determine the 



