The Portland daily press., 1893-11-13
iNsEcTvoICEs.
The Music of Moths and Grasshoppers and
Howit is Made,

+. L1ntner discoursed entertainingly on
insect voices. The sounds of insects he
nrst explained do not proceed directly
from the mouth in any case, there being
no true larynx and vocal organs. But
lew would relegate the bee, mosquito or
the beetle to the realms of mute creation
Even the organs of the mouth are not
essential to articulate speech. The pho
nograph is an instance, and also the
fact that song can be emitted in man
through the nostrils, the mouth being
tightly closed. at is far, more difficult,
said. Professor Lintner, :" to study the
voices of love, joy, fear, anger, etc., in
insects than in birds. The insect vocal
lists are shy, their notes delicate, and no
less than $4,000 vibrations in a second
have been computed. Moreover they
communicate by sounds inaudible to
human ears, constituting, as it were, an
additional sense"
Prof. Scudder, Of. Cambridge, he scon-
tinued in his work, "Songs of the Grass
hoppers," had explained that these in
sects had different voices for the sun
shine and the shade, for the day and
night. The sounds were produced by
the friction of the antennae. There were
no house crickets in this country, a
questionable want. 1t was on record,
however, that gentleman of science
had an application made to him for
their Introduction. On the other hand,
lady in England had been utterly I'M
able to drive them from her house, and
this was only effected in course of time
by the holding of private wedding in
the house, at which drums and trumpets
were introduced. That effectually drove
them away; possibly because 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 resem bling
slumberous breathing and one species
most POLITICALLY compared to g an audible
Stiffness" which, could it be heard,
would" sound like the moonlight The
song of others was gutteral, like "dis-
tant sounds of frogs" and one European
variety possessed a tune like that of the
goatsucker-a low, dull, interrupted
note.
These were the true grasshoppers,
There were many kinds of kateydlids.
The song of the meadow grasshopper is
described by Prof. Scudder as a crescendo,
lasting half a second, a trill, staccato
lasting one-eighth of second, followed
by trills and staccatos ad libitum. This
was In day time, its even-song was SINH
lar, but slower.
The cone-headed s;katydid, common in
this State during August, had notes that
sounded like "bzrWyn by day and
"tchew" 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 them in Castle Garden, New
York, loud enough, almost, to drown
the poets must have heard this variety
OF hopper at distance, where it's rasp-
ing "rz" was toned down. Our katydid
seemed possessed of an incurable spirit
of contradiction. 1t begins, "Katydid,
katydip, katydid." This becomes inten-
sified, the quarrel becomes heated into
She didn't, she didn't" and finally in
to "She did, 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 were partly made by the
drawing down of the femur or leg bone
Gin which go teeth had been counted a.
cross the nerves of the wing covers Then
on the side of the body was cavity
closed by skin; this, was with the
violin, intensified the vibrations. This
seemed a queer place for vocal organ,
but it was equalled by the nose" of some
insects being placed in the joints of the
antennae, while even eyes had been
found on the tail and on the abdomen.
The migratory locusts made noise
1ilya a yvbirlyyind Ty, a1oti
read the sonnd of their wings is like
the sound of chariots." One species from
Panama was "a inches long, and the
stretch of its wings nine inches A
pigmy, truly, to the locusts described
by Pliny, which were three feet long,
and whose legs were used as saws They
bad had, said Professor Lintner, ample
time to grow by this time. I hope"
continued he, that the grasshopper
ha, not proved a burden to you. Homer.
Anacreon, Hesiod and Theocritus had
described the Cicada most POLITICALLY.
1t was supposed that the Brazilian
Cicada could be heard at distance of a
mile, and some sages had attempted to
prove that this was relatively to it's size
as far as if man could be heard all over
the world at once. Although man was
equal in size to 167, 552 cieadae, he would
not in reality be heard over the United
St ties. The Cicada Septandecim was
the champion in the way Of age; it took
II years in it's development.
Butterflies and moths were considered
mute, but in some cases they hum like
humming birds. A remarkable species
was the deaths head moth,n the object
of much alarm and superstition. There
was true story of young man with
typhoid fever, whose nurse was changed.
The new conner saw one of these mohts
in case in the sick room. "Take it
away" she said, "and burn it He will
never recover if it remains in the room. D
When caught in the hand it utters cry
like mouse, only more piteous
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 creation combined, had suggested
the TELEPHONE, and may we not, conclud-
ed he, "hope that through these creatures
with their cadences which charm the
ear, many more wonders in time will be in
vented, while musical Instruments may
be improved and the deaf ear shall be
unstopped. !"
To Make Pure Oxygen.