NOISES OF INSECTS. 



313 



their bases likewise against the sides of the cavity in which 

 they are inserted, as in the case of the fly lately mentioned, 

 or against the base-covers (tegulce), may produce or modulate 

 their sounds, a bee whose wings are eradicated being perfectly 

 mute. 1 This last assertion, however, is contradicted by John 

 Hunter, who affirms that bees produce a noise independent 

 of their wings, emitting a shrill and peevish sound though 

 they are cut off, and the legs held fast. 2 Yet it does not 

 appear from his experiment that the wings were eradicated. 

 And if they were only cut off, the friction of their base 

 might cause the sound. I have before noticed the remarkable 

 fact, that the queens educated according to M. Schirach's 

 method are absolutely mute ; on which account the bees keep 

 no guard around their cells, nor retain them an instant in 

 them after their transformation. 3 



The passions , also, which urge us to various exclamations, 

 elicit from insects occasionally certain sounds. Fear, anger, 

 sorrow, joy, or love and desire, they express in particular in- 

 stances by particular noises. I shall begin with those which 

 they emit when under any alarm. One larva only is recorded 

 as uttering a cry of alarm, and it produces a perfect insect re- 

 markable for the same faculty : I allude to Acherontia Atropos. 

 Its caterpillar, if disturbed at all, draws back rapidly, making 

 at the same time a rather loud noise, which has been com- 

 pared to the crack of an electric spark. 4 You would scarcely 

 think that any quiescent pupce could show their fears by a 

 sound, — yet in one instance this appears to be the case. De 

 Geer having made a small incision in the cocoon of a moth, 

 which included that of its parasite Ichneumon (/. ca?itator, 

 De G.), the insect concealed within the latter uttered a little 

 cry, similar to the chirping of a small grasshopper, continuing 

 it for a long time together. The sound was produced by the 

 friction of its body against the elastic substance of its own 

 cocoon, and was easily imitated by rubbing a knife against its 

 surface. 5 



1 Reaum. v. 617. 2 Philos. Trans. 1792. 3 Huber, i. 292. 



4 Fuessl. Archiv. 8. 10. Mr. Raddon assures me that on one occasion taking 

 up the caterpillar of another moth, Gastropacha quercifolia by the hairs, it uttered 

 a distinct squeak. 



5 De Geer, vii. 594. 



