NOISES OF INSECTS. 



317 



organs are not fine enough to catch all their different modu- 

 lations. When Schirach had once smoked a hive to oblige 

 the bees to retire to the top of it, the queen with some of the 

 rest flew away. Upon this, those that remained in the hive 

 sent forth a most plaintive sound, as if they were all de- 

 ploring their loss ; when their sovereign was restored to them, 

 these lugubrious sounds were succeeded by an agreeable 

 humming, which announced their joy at the event. 1 Huber 

 relates, that once when all the worker-brood was removed from 

 a hive, and only male brood left, the bees appeared in a state 

 of extreme despondency. Assembled in clusters upon the 

 combs, they lost all their activity. The queen dropped her 

 eggs at random ; and instead of the usual active hum, a dead 

 silence reigned in the hive. 2 



But love is the soul of song with those that may be es- 

 teemed the most musical insects, the grasshopper tribes ( Gryl- 

 lina and Locustina), and the long celebrated Cicada. You 

 Avould suppose, perhaps, that the ladies would bear their share 

 in these amatory strains. But here you would be mistaken — 

 female insects are too intent upon their business, too coy and 

 reserved to tell their love even to the winds. — The males 

 alone 



'•' Formosam resonare decent Amaryllida sylvas." 



With respect to the Cicada, this was observed by Aristotle ; 

 and Pliny, as usual, has retailed it after him. 3 The observ- 

 ation also holds good with respect to the Gryllina, &c, and 

 other insects, probably, whose love is musical. Olivier, how- 

 ever, has noticed an exception to this doctrine ; for he relates, 

 that in a species of beetle (Moluris striata), the female has a 

 round granulated spot in the middle of the second segment 

 of the abdomen, by striking which against any hard sub- 

 stance, she produces a rather loud sound, and that the male, 

 obedient to this call, soon attends her, and they pair. 4 Both 

 sexes, also, in the genus Ephippiger, separated by Latreille 

 from Acrida, and characterised as being without wings and 

 with very short wing-covers, are musical (?). 5 



i Schirach, 73. 2 i. 226. 



3 Aristot. Hist. Anim. 1. v. c. 30. Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. xi. c. 26. 



4 Oliv. Entomol. i. Pref. ix. 



6 Goureau, Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, vi. 31. and translation in Entom. Mag. 

 v. 98. 



