1969] 
Willey and Willey — Social Displays 
293 
but much softer, blurred, and less tonal than the chirp. The ampli- 
tude is variable, but ranges from 30 to 45 db at four inches on the 
A scale of the sound level meter. 
Other male signals . 
A buzz (Fig. 8) and flutter-squeal (Fig. 6) by males have as 
yet no certain communicative function. However, they are made 
frequently enough and under such peculiar circumstances that they 
seem to be part of the normal male repertoire and their significance 
is an intriguing problem. 
The buzz lasts 1 to 2 seconds with a pulse frequency of about 
1 10-120 per second, and stops abruptly. The pulses are paired with 
a shorter time interval between each member of the pair than that 
between the pairs. The overall intensity measures 50 to 60 db at 
4 inches on the B and C scale, and is loudest when the insect has its 
side directed to the microphone. There are several major overtones 
above a gliding fundamental giving a rising and falling “chord” to 
the first pair member and only a rising one in the second. It is likely 
that the pairs represent some order of up and down stroke of the 
femora in strong contact with the tegminal pegs. We formerly 
thought that the buzz of Arphia males was a rare sound (Willey 
6 Willey, 1964), but it is frequently given in captivity by 3-4 week 
old males especially after the male has been refused by a female 
several times or is in isolation while other pairs nearby are courting. 
We have a tape of about 50 buzzes produced by 10 males during 
7 minutes, each one paired with an unresponsive female in a separate 
mating cage (August, 1968). 
So far, no female has shown any reaction to the buzz other than 
Figure 8. Field recording of entire buzz with an after-stroke resembling 
a very brief chirp. Note the paired nature of the strokes, sharp frequency 
and amplitude peaks, the even double pulse rate, increase in frequency peaks 
and their variability, and the abrupt beginning and ending of the song. The 
high frequency “ghosts” peaking at 12 to 16+ KHz probably represent 
an artifact of the spectrograph. 
Figure 9. Laboratory recording of flutter rasp between two males. The 
first three pulses were delivered by a normal male using both hind legs, 
the train of 5 double strokes was given by a one-legged male obviously 
contacting the tegminal file on both up and down strokes. One of the pair 
of strokes is identical to that one given by the two-legged male, indicating 
temporal precision in deployment of the two legs making that stroke. The 
second of the paired strokes resembles a single pulse of the buzz in its 
frequency peak characteristics. There is considerable variation in the time 
spacing of the strokes. Again, the “harmonics” are probably largely due 
to spectrograph artifact based on the basic pulse repetition rate of the 
fundamental tone. 
