326 



NOISES OF INSECTS. 



sound of a harp or lyre, that they are called there harpers 

 (Lierman). 1 Whether the Grecian Cicadae maintain at 

 present their ancient character for music, travellers do not 

 tell us. 



Those of other countries, however, have been held in less 

 estimation for their powers of song ; or rather have been exe- 

 crated for the deafening din that they produce. Virgil ac- 

 cuses those of Italy of bursting the very shrubs with their 

 noise 2 ; and Sir J. E. Smith observes that this species, which 

 is very common, makes a most disagreeable dull chirping. 3 

 Another, Cicada septendecim — which fortunately, as its name 

 imports, appears only once in seventeen years — makes such a 

 continual din from morning to evening that people cannot 

 hear each other speak. They appear in Pennsylvania in in- 

 credible numbers in the middle of May. 4 " In the hotter 

 months of summer," says Dr. Shaw, " especially from midday 

 to the middle of the afternoon, the Cicada, tsttl^ or grass- 

 hopper, as we falsely translate it, is perpetually stunning our 

 ears with its most excessively shrill and ungrateful noise. It 

 is in this respect the most troublesome and impertinent of 

 insects, perching upon a twig and squalling sometimes two or 

 three hours without ceasing ; thereby too often disturbing 

 the studies, or short repose that is frequently indulged, in 

 these hot climates, at those hours. The tsttc£ of the Greeks 

 must have had a quite different voice, more soft, surely, and 

 melodious; otherwise the fine orators of Homer, who are 

 compared to it, can be looked upon no better than loud lo- 

 quacious scolds." 5 An insect of this tribe, and I am told a 

 very noisy one, has been found by Mr. Daniel Bydder, before 

 mentioned (Cicada Anglica Curtis 6 ) in the JSTew Forest, 

 Hampshire. Previously to this it was not thought that any 

 of these insect musicians were natives of the British Isles. 

 Captain Hancock informs me that the Brazilian Cicadas sing 

 so loud as to be heard at the distance of a mile. This is as 

 if a man of ordinary stature, supposing his powers of voice 



1 Merian, Surinam. 49. 



2 Et cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadas. Georg. iii. 328. 



3 Smith's Tour, iii. 95. 



4 Collinson in Philos. Trans. 1 763. Stoll, Cigales, 26. 



5 Travels, 2d ed. 186. e Brit. Ent. t. 114. 



