66 



Fig. 38. 



The honey-bee has the most business-like flight of any insect I know. With what 

 calm, set purpose it passes from flower to flower ! With what direct and eager flight it 

 makes its way — in the summer, to the flowering basswood or the patch of white clover ; 

 in the autumn, to the field of buckwheat ! How steadily it bears its burden to the hive ! 

 What a threatening twang it sends forth when annoyed by an intruder upon its haunts ! 



Some insect-sounds are produced by special arrangements, as the notes of the Cicada, 

 produced by organs in the sides, and those of the Acheta and Gryllus by friction of the 

 stiff membraneous wings. But the various humming noises of insects are produced by 

 alar vibrations more or less rapid. Everyone acquainted with the structure of a reed 

 organ knows that the different notes are caused by vibratory tongues of different sizes, 

 and of different degrees of weight and pliancy. The range of octaves of the grand insect 

 scale has never been determined. It may be that the organs of the smallest Cecidomyia 

 are sensitive to pulsations caused by the vibratory motions of the wings of its minute 

 compeers. 



To return to our illustration of the reed organ : Who is not acquainted with the jar 

 caused by the intrusion of a filament or other obstacle upon the notes'? Just such ajar 

 is heard breaking in upon the sustained note of the humble-bee whenever the creature 

 passes into the corolla of a flower. The regular vibrations are broken short and disturbed, 

 and a harsh, discordant sound is the result. 



If one with a well-cultivated ear for music wishes to become acquainted with insect 

 sounds, let him, on a calm evening in the beginning of July, just as night is closing in, 

 take his stand by an English honeysuckle, or a bed of perennial phlox, or amongst the 



