Insect artizans and their work . inmy hand ; and then to my further delight andsurprise, I found that by gently pressing the thorax,I could secure an encore at will. This lasted nearlyall the time I was walking home ; and I was ableto watch the distention and contraction of theabdomen for nearly half an hour—long after theother cicadas had ceased their song for the evening. The conclusion I reached, in conjunction withwhat I have read on the subject, was that the cicadais able to fill the abdominal space with compressedair, and then force this air through the tympanum.(Note the accordion-like
Insect artizans and their work . inmy hand ; and then to my further delight andsurprise, I found that by gently pressing the thorax,I could secure an encore at will. This lasted nearlyall the time I was walking home ; and I was ableto watch the distention and contraction of theabdomen for nearly half an hour—long after theother cicadas had ceased their song for the evening. The conclusion I reached, in conjunction withwhat I have read on the subject, was that the cicadais able to fill the abdominal space with compressedair, and then force this air through the tympanum.(Note the accordion-like structure of the abdomen)... I had few other opportunities for watchingthe cicadas quite as good as this first one, butwhenever I had the opportunity I was convincedof the correctness of my observations on thatoccasion. Respecting the silence of the females, whichattracted the attention of Xenarchus, it is not dueto want of the apparatus, but to the fact that it isnot fully developed. Hartman speaks of the music as the marital. Plate 34 The Cicadas Music-box. Page 256 A Cicada seen from below. The arrow points to the position of a pair of convea shields, beneath which are the complicated timbals and membranes which produce the shrill sounds. Photo by A ulhor.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1919
