22 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



had executed this squeal in a neat little musical comb running 

 along a raised edge that crossed the convex upper surface of the 

 glassy patch on her right elytron, as Goureau has rightly 

 indicated ; while that of the male was to be found on a raised 

 edge beneath the left, and came to view browner, broader, and 

 coarser. Hence the music of the male is gruff and masculine, 

 and that of the female shrill and feminine ; one plays the bass 

 and the other the treble. Around Vienna, from the commence- 

 ment of August until October, they often perform duets in the 

 bushes, where at intervals the male gives two chirps and the 

 female replies with one. 



Before leaving Nantes I took a trip down the Loire in one of 

 the little steamers known as 1 Bees ' as far as the Island of 

 Indret, and landed on the confines of the historical Vendee, 

 where I was much impressed with the regal splendour of the 

 departing year. The solitude of the country after the vivacity 

 of the town inspired a moody melancholy ; the vineyards around 

 were spread with a funereal cloth of gold, and the fiery yellow 

 and vermilion of the woodland appeared to be the glow of a 

 vast conflagration. Beneath its shade the ground was overrun 

 with dewberries, and I wandered on until I came to a country 

 road, where I met with the Ephippiger selligera.* It was not 

 unlike the former cymbal-player, but marine-green in colour, 

 and a cylindrical body gave it much the aspect of a gun- 

 carriage. These hunch-backed Crickets populated the pollard- 

 oaks at the side of the way, and as I advanced a male would 

 leisurely ascend to the topmost spray and play the requiem of 

 summer with a " hist-oh-hist ! " and then the other pollard- 

 oaks rang afar with a " hist-oh-hist ! " that sounded like the 

 bubbling murmur of a brook. The road led on, and I saw 

 I was coming to what seemed to be a picturesque village, which 

 proved to be a small town with an hotel that had an arched 

 doorway, into which the cows were driven. Yersin says the 

 music of E. provincialis, which he found in the neighbourhood 

 of Hyeres the first days of August, is a "zig-zig!" No doubt 

 the county echo adds melody to sounds that are harsh. The 

 Katy-did (Platyphyllum concavum)\ of North America climbs to 



* = Steropleurus andalusius, Rainb. (Kirby, Syn. Cat. Orthopt. vol. ii.). 

 | == Pterophylla camellifolia, Fabr. ,, ,, ,, 



