pen. At most
I see a male from time to time approaching his beloved; he spreads out
the leaves of his antennae, and agitates them so that they shiver
slightly; he is perhaps informing himself if he is welcome. Thereupon he
puts on his finest airs and exhibits his attainments. It is a useless
display; the female is motionless, as though insensible to these
demonstrations. Captivity has sorrows that are hard to overcome. This
was all that I was able to see. Mating, it appears, must take place
during the later hours of the night, so that I missed the propitious
moment.

One detail in particular interested me. The Pine-chafer emits a musical
note. The female is as gifted as the male. Does the lover make use of
his faculty as a means of seduction and appeal? Does the female answer
the chirp of her _innamorata_ by a similar chirp? That this may be so
under normal conditions, amidst the foliage of the pines, is extremely
probable; but I can make no assertion, as I have never heard anything of
the kind either among the pines or in my laboratory.

The sound is produced by the extremity of the abdomen, which gently
rises and falls, rubbing, as it does so, with its last few segments, the
hinder edge of the wing-covers, which are held firm and motionless.
There is no special equipment on the rubbing surface nor on the surface
rubbed. The magnifying-glass looks in vain for the fine striations
usually found in the musical instruments of the insect world. All is
smooth on either hand. How then is the sound engendered?

Rub the end of the moistened finger on a strip of glass, or a
window-pane, and you will obtain a very audible sound, somewhat
analogous to that emitted by the chafer. Better still, use a scrap of
indiarubber to rub the glass with, and you will reproduce with some
fidelity the sound in question. If the proper rhythm is observed the
imitation is so successful that one might well be deceived by it.

In the musical apparatus of the Pine-chafer the pad of the finger-tip
and the scrap of indiarubber are represented by the soft abdomen of the
insect, and the glass is represented by the blade of the wing-cover,
which forms a thin, rigid plate, easily set in vibration. The
sound-mechanism of the Pine-chafer is thus of the very simplest
description.

INDEX

A

Acorn-Weevil, _see_ Elephant-Beetle

Ameles, _see_ Mantis, the Grey

Anacreon, on the Cigale, 9

Ant, fable of the Cigale and the, 1-16