316 



NOISES OF INSECTS. 



it the required resonance. But on the other hand MM. Du- 

 ponchel, Aube, Boisduval, Pierret, and Rambur, members of 

 the Entomological Society of France, who expressly instituted 

 a series of experiments in order to ascertain the actual cause 

 of the noise, came to the conclusion that it is not owing to 

 any of those hitherto assigned, and yet remains to be dis- 

 covered, and that the noise itself has little of the plaintive 

 cry attributed to it, but has the greatest analogy with that 

 made by most of the Capricorn beetles (Prionus, Lamia, &c), 

 as above described. 1 If the observation of a friend of Mr. 

 Raddon, that this noise is sometimes made by the moth just 

 before issuing from the pupa 2 , be correct, it would go far to 

 prove that it is simply owing, as Rosel thought, to the same 

 cause as that of the Capricorn beetles, since the confined 

 posture of the insect in the pupa case, and the very limited 

 quantity of air there inclosed, seem to forbid the supposition 

 that this last has any share in producing it. 



I must next say a few words upon the angry chidings of 

 our little creatures ; for their anger sometimes vents itself in 

 sounds. I have often been amused with hearing the indignant 

 tones of a humble-bee while lying upon its back. When I 

 held my finger to it, it kicked and scolded with all its might. 

 Hive-bees when irritated emit a shrill and peevish sound, 

 continuing even when they are held under water, which John 

 Hunter says vibrates at the point of contact with the air-holes 

 at the root of their wings. 3 This sound is particularly sharp 

 and angry when they fly at an intruder. The same sounds, 

 or very similar ones, tell us when a wasp is offended, and we 

 may expect to be stung ; — but this passion of anger in 

 insects is so nearly connected with their fear that I need not 

 enlarge further upon it. 



Concerning their shouts of joy and cries of sorrow I have 

 little to record : that pleasure or pain makes a difference in 

 the tones of vocal insects is not improbable ; but our auditory 



I Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, viii. 59. and ix. 125. 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. ii. proc. lxxvi. 



3 In Philos. Trans. 1792. This fact strongly confirms Dr. Burmeister's ex- 

 periments before related, showing that the humming of bees, as of flies, is caused 

 not by the wings, but by the action of the air on the laminae of the thoracic 

 spiracles as there described. 



