HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 253 
perature of the evenings in August and September — the greater number will 
be heard on the key of B fiat. Their time, however, in this state of the 
weather, is very imperfect, and a great many will be heard singing out of 
tune, some a tone or a semi-tone higher, and others as much lower than B 
flat. I attribute this difference to the different degrees of warmth which 
they may find, according as they are more or less protected from the external 
air. If one, for example, be confined in a room in the house, when the outer 
air is cool, the one confined will chirp several notes higher than any that 
are singing out of doors. When the temperature is very warm, there is 
probably more uniformity of heat in all places and situations, than when it 
is cooler. Often, on a sudden change of tempera,ture from warm to cool, 
some individuals that happen to be in a little snug retreat that still pre- 
serves the early heat of the day, will sing more briskly and on a higher 
key than others. When the weather is below 60°, all the insects sing very 
feebly, without regard to time or tune ; those only that happen to be pro- 
tected under the warm projection of a roof, or the trunk of a tree, chirping 
on a higher key than the rest, and with more vivacity. 
I have no doubt that with an accurate thermometer, and a perfectly tuned 
instrument, the corresponding changes produced in the shrillness of the tones 
of these little insects, by the changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, 
might be marked with such a degree of accuracy, as to enable us to use 
them within certain limits, as a musical thermometer. In my observations 
I used a very ordinary thermometer to mark the weather, and a German 
flute, which is an inaccurate instrument for such a purpose, to mark the 
musical key of the insects. Some allowance, therefore, ought to be made 
for any little incorrectness which a future observer may detect in these 
results. I will venture to assert, however that the result of any future 
experiments of this kind would not differ, materially, from that of the 
following table : — 
Height of Thermometer. Key-note of the Insects. 
80° r natural, perfect time and tune. 
75°, Eflat, " " " 
70° D, " " « 
65° C, imperfect time and tune. 
60° B flat, " " " 
55° A, key-note hardly to be detected, many out of time 
and tune. 
50° G, a few individuals only singing slowly and feebly. 
Wilson Flagg, in Eovey's Mag. 
