NOISES OF INSECTS. 



311 



served Anobium striatum produce the sound in question by a 

 stroke of its mandibles upon the wood, which was answered 

 by a similar noise from within it. But the species whose 

 proceedings have been most noticed by British observers is 

 A. tessellatum. When spring is far advanced, these insects 

 are said to commence their ticking, which is only a call to 

 each other, to which if no answer be returned, the animal 

 repeats it in another place. It is thus produced. Raising 

 itself upon its hind legs, with the body somewhat inclined, it 

 beats its head with great force and agility upon the plane of 

 position ; and its strokes are so powerful as to make a con- 

 siderable impression if they fall upon any substance softer 

 than wood. The general number of distinct strokes in suc- 

 cession is from seven to nine or eleven. They follow each 

 other quickly, and are repeated at uncertain intervals. In 

 old houses, where these insects abound, they may be heard in 

 warm weather during the whole day. The noise exactly re- 

 sembles that produced by tapping moderately with the nail 

 upon the table ; and when familiarised, the insect will answer 

 very readily the tap of the nail. 1 



The queen bee has long been celebrated for a peculiar 

 sound, producing the most extraordinary effects upon her 

 subjects. Sometimes, just before bees swarm, — instead of 

 the great hum usually heard, and even in the night, — if the 

 ear be placed close to the mouth of the hive, a sharp clear 

 sound may be distinguished, which appears to be produced 

 by the vibration of the wings of a single bee. This, it has 

 been pretended, is the harangue of the new queen to her 

 subjects, to inspire them with courage to achieve the found- 

 ation of a new empire. But Butler gives to it a different 

 interpretation. He asserts, that the candidate for the new 

 throne is then with earnest entreaties, lamentations, and 

 groans, supplicating the queen-mother of the hive to grant 

 her permission to lead the intended colony ; — that this is 

 continued, before she can obtain her consent, for two days ; 

 when the old queen relenting gives her fiat in a fuller and 



1 Shaw's Nat. Misc. iii. 104. Phil. Trans, xxxiii. 159. Compare Dumeril, 

 Traitt Element, ii. 91. n. 694. 



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