The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-25
VOICES oF INSECTS.
interesting Facts as to Their Quality
and How They Are Produced.
From The Albany Express.


From the Albany Express.
The National Academy of Science con-
tinued its session yesterday in the Senate
chamber of the capitol Prof Joseph A.
Lintner, Of Albany, state entomologist,
read his paper on Insect Voices"
The sounds of insects, il was first ex
planned, do not proceed directly from the
mouth in any case, there being no true
larynx ana vocal organs. But few would
relegate the bee, mosquito or the beetle
TO the realms OF mute crea ton. Even the
organs of the mouth are not essential to
articulate speech. The phonograph is
an instance, and also the fact that song
can be emitted in man through the nos
triIs, the mouth being tightly closed.
1t Is far far more difficult" said Prof
Llntner, Ito study the voices of love, Joy,
Tear, anger. etc, in insects than in birds
The insect vOcalists are shy, their notes
delicate, and no less than $4,000 vibla-
tions In second have been computed
Moreover, they communicate by sounds
inaudible to human ears. constituting, as
itwere, an additional sense"
PrOf. Scudder. of Cambridge, he con-
tinued, in his work Songs of the Grass
hoppers," had explained that these in
Sects had different voices for the sunshine
and the shade, for the day and night.
The sounds were produced by the friction
OF the antennR. There were no house
crlckets in this country, however, that a
gentleman of science had an application
made to him for their introduction. On
The Otner hand, q lady in England had
been utterly unable to drive them from
her house, and this was only affected in
course Of time by the holding of a private
wedding in the house, at which drums
and trumpets were introduced That
etfectuaHy drove them away. possibly be-
cause they could not bear any louder
music than their own, as happens with
others besides crickets.
Widely distinct sounds were emitted
by the grasshOpper tribe, their voices
having been described as resembling
'Slumbrouso breathing and one species
most POLITICALLY compared to IAN audible
Stiffness which, could it be heard
would sound like the moonlight" The
song of others was gutteral, like distant
sounds of frogs and one European
variety possessed a tune like that of the
goatsucker-a low, dull, interrupted note
These were true grasshoppers. There
were many kinds of katydids. There
many kinds Of katydids. The song of
the meadow grasshopper is de-
Scribed by Prof. Scudder as a crescenuo
lasting half second, trill, a staccato
lasting one-eighth of a second, followed
by trills and staccatos ad libitum. This
was in daytime: its evCnsOng was SINH
lar. but slower
The cone headed katydid, common IN
this state during August, had notes that
sounded like "bzrwy' by day and "tchw"
by night The katydid proper could
be heard much more easily than seen.
They were very familiar to every one east
of the Rockies The speaker had heard
in n ct - y p1nn Ma
enough to almost drown ordinary CONVEX
satiOn. He thought that the poets must
have heard this variety of hopper at a
distance, where its rasping III was
toned down. Our katydid seem possessed
of an incurable spirit of contradiction. 1t
begins, 'Katykid, katydid, katydid. 3"
This becomes intensified as the quarrel
becomes heated into She didn't she
didn't and finally into She did, she
did" The noise was due to the rapid
opening and shutting of the wing covers,
producing friction.
The true locusts were grasshoppers.
The sounds We're partly made by the
drawing down of the femur or long bone
lin which ninety-two teeth had been
counted), across the nerves of the wing
covers. Then on the side of the body
was cavity closed by skin; this, as
with the violin, intensified the vibrations.
4HlS StSllCu uCbI i)AdCC lOI Il NOCdI VI
gan, but it was equalled by the nose of
insects, being placed in the JOINTS of the
antenn8, while even eyes had been found
on the tail and on the abdomen.
The migratory lOcusts made noise like
a Whirlwind. In Revelations was read a:
The sound of their wings is like the
sound of chariots" One species from
Panama was 3$I inches long, and the
stretch of its wings 9 inches. A pigmy,
truly, to the locusts described by Pliny,
which were three feet long, and whose
legs were used as saws. They had had,
said Prof. Lintner, ample time to grow
by this time. Il hope, - continued he, that
the grasshOpper has not proved a burden
to you.n Homer, AnaCreOn. Hesiod and
Theocritus had described the cicada most
POLITICALLY.
1t was supposed that the Brazilian CT
cada could be heard at a distance of a
mile, and some sageS had attempted to
prove that this was. relatively to its size
as far as if a man could be heard all over
the world at once Although man was
equal in size to 167 ,552 cicad9, he would
not in reality be heard over the United
States The cicada scptandecim was the
champion in the way of age; it took sew
enteen years in its development.
Butterflies and moths were considered
mute, but i'll some cases they hum like
humming birds. A remarkable specie
was the death head moth, 1.-THE object of
much alarm and superstition. There was
a true story of young man with typhoid
fever whose nurse was changed. The
new conner saw one of these moths in q
case in the sick room. Take it away, y
said she, and burn it. He will never re
cover if it remains in the room. " When
caught in the hand it utters a cry like Il
mouse, only more pitcous,
After discussing the bees, flies, etc, the
professor pointed out the uses of all this
music The insect tribe, which was ten
times as numerous as all the rest of the
animal Great combined, had suggested
the telephone, and may we not" con-
creatures, with their cadeuces which
charm the ear, many more wonders in
time will be invented, while musical in
struEnents NAV be imnrnNed and tic daaf