The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-07-29
The Voices of Animals.

Aquatic animals are mute. A world
Of radiates, mollusks, and fishes, there
fore, would be silent. Insects are about
the only invertebrates capable of produc-
ing sounds. Their organs are usually ex-
ternal, while those of higher animals are
internal. Insects of rapid fight generally
make the most noiae. In some the noi5e
is produced by friction (stridulation) in
others by the pasccc.se of ar through the
spiracles (hrmming). The buzzng of
flies and bees are caused in part by the
vibrations of the wings; but it comes
mainly from the sp'racles of the thorax.
Snakes and liz-rds have no vocal chords,
and can only hiss. Froys croak, and
crocOdiles ro:r by the vibrations of the
CLOTHS. The huge tortoi.e of the Gala
pages islands utter bOarse, believing
noise. The vocal apparatus in birds is
situated al the lower end of the trachea,
where it divides into the two b.onchi. 1t
consists mainly o. a long drum with
cress bone, having a vertical membrane
attached to its upper edge. Five pair of
muscles Tin the songsters) adjust the
length of the wiudpipe to the pitch Of
the CLOTHS. The various notes are pro-
duced by differences in the blast of air,
as we'll AZ by changes in the tension C :
the membrane. The range of notes
commonly within an octave. Birds Of
the same family have similar voice. All
the parrots have harsh utterauce; geese
aud ducks qncck. crows. nagpies and
jays cav while The warblers differ in the
quality rather than the kind of note.
Some species possess great compass of
Tho han I'D hal ,o
three miles; and Livingstone said he
could distinguish the voices of the ostrich
and Len only by knowing that the former
roar by dav and the latter by night.
The vocal organ of mammals, unlike that
of birds, is in the per part o. the
larynx. 1t consists of four carriages, OF
which the largest (the thyroid produces
the prominence in the human throat
known as Adams apple, and two elastic
bands, called vocal chords just below the
CLOTHS or upper ope ,ing of the wind oipe.
The various tones are determined by the
tension OF thete cho; DIS, which is effected
by the raising or lowering of The thyroid
prominence. The will cannot influence
the contraction OF The vocaIiz'ng muscles,
except in The very act of vocalizatiOn.
The vocal sounds produced by mammals
may be distinguished into the ordinary
voice: the cry and the song The second
is the sound made by brutes. The whale,
tortoise, armadillo, ante ter, porcupine,
and giraffe are generally silent. The
bats voice is probably the shrillest sound
audible to human ears. There is little
meditation in brute utterance. The
opossum purs, the sloth and kangaroo
moan, the hog grunts or squeals, the tapir
whistles, the stag bellows, and the ele-
plant gives hoarse, trumpet sound from
its trunk and deep groan from its throat.
All lheep have cultural voice all the
cows low, from the bison to the musk OK |;
all the horses and donkeys neigh; all the
cats miau, from the domestic animal to
the lion; all the bears growl and all the
canine family (fox, WOLF and dog) bark,
howl, and whine. The bowling monkeys
and POrillas have large cavity or sac in
the throat for resonance, enabling them
to utter powerful voice; and one of the
gibbons has the remarkable power of
emitting complete octave of musical
notes. The human voice, taking the
male and female together, have a range
of nearly four octaves. Mans power of
speech, or the utterance of articulate
sounds, is due to his intellectual develop
ment rather than to any structural diff
ference between him and the apes. Song
is produced by the CLOTHS, speech by the
mOuth.-jScientifc american.