



































HEMIPTERA. | 105 
consider the apparatus for producing the song, or rather the noise, 
of the male Cicada, and the structure of the 
female’s auger. Weare indebted to Réaumur 
for the discovery of the mechanism by the aid : 
of which the Cicada produces the sharp noise aa teh 
ih il 
Ny 
Bb fd 
LAA SS 
which announces its whereabouts from afar. iy 
We will give a summary of the celebrated \ 
| memoir in which the French naturalist has 
so admirably described the musical apparatus 
: 
of the Cicada.* 













| Jt is not in the throat that the Cicada’s organ 
‘of sound is placed, but on the abdomen. On 
examining the abdomen of the male of a large 
| species of Cicada, one remarks on it two squa- ne 
-mose plates, of pretty good size, which are Fig. 78.--Cicada ci 
not found on the females. Each plate has a Gh 
one side straight; the rest of its outline is rounded. It is by the me 
side which is rectilinear that the plate is fixed immediately mut 
| underneath the third pair of legs. It can be slightly raised with u 
an effort, by two prickly pegs, each of which presses upon one of ny 
the plates, and when it is raised, prevents it from being raised 
too much, and make it fall back again immediately. oa 
_ If the two plates are removed and turned over on the thorax, ya 
‘and the parts which they hide laid bare, one is struck by , f 
the appearance which is presented. ‘‘ One cannot doubt that all bs 
one sees has been made to enable the Cicada to sing,” says fe 
Réaumur. “When one compares the parts which have been a 
arranged so that it may be able to sing, as we may say from its si 
belly, with the organs of our throat, one finds that ours have not He 
been made with more care than those by means of which the Cicada 
gives forth sounds which are not always agreeable.” 
We here perceive a cavity which has been placed in the anterior 
portion of the abdomen, and which is divided into two principal 
_ cells by a scaly triangle. 
“The bottom of each cell offers to children who catch the Cicada, 
_a spectacle which amuses them, and which may be admired by 
men who know how to make the best use of their reason. The ] 
* Mémoire, tome v. 4to. 
