. Exotics and retrospectives. —though on this point I am notpositive. Some of the insects do not seem tohave yet been scientifically classed; and I amno entomologist. But I can offer some general 60 Exotics and Retrospectives notes on the more important among the littlemelodists, and free translations of a few out ofthe countless poems about them, — beginningwith the matsumushi, which was celebrated inJapanese verse a thousand years ago: As ideographically written, the name of thiscreature signifies pine-insect; but, as pro-nounced, it might mean also waiting-insect, —since the ve
. Exotics and retrospectives. —though on this point I am notpositive. Some of the insects do not seem tohave yet been scientifically classed; and I amno entomologist. But I can offer some general 60 Exotics and Retrospectives notes on the more important among the littlemelodists, and free translations of a few out ofthe countless poems about them, — beginningwith the matsumushi, which was celebrated inJapanese verse a thousand years ago: As ideographically written, the name of thiscreature signifies pine-insect; but, as pro-nounced, it might mean also waiting-insect, —since the verb matsu, to wait, and the nounmatsu, pine, havethe same sound. It ischiefly upon this doublemeaning of the word asuttered that a host of^ \ Japanese poems about the matsumushi are MATSUMUSHI {slightly enlarged). based> gome of these are very old, — dating back to the tenth centuryat least. Although by no means a rare insect, the matsu-mushi is much esteemed for the peculiar clear- 1 Caljiptotryphus Marmoratus. (?). Insect-Musicians 61 ness and sweetness of its, notes— (onomatopo-etically rendered in Japanese by the syllablescbin-chirorin, chin-cbirorlri), — little silveryshrillings which I can best describe as resemblingthe sound of an electric bell heard from a dis-tance. The matsumushi haunts pine-woods andcryptomeria-groves, and makes its music at is a very small insect, with a dark-brown back,and a yellowish belly. Perhaps the oldest extant verses upon thematsumushi are those contained in the Kokinsbu,— a famous anthology compiled in the year 905by the court-poet Tsurayuki and several of hisnoble friends. Here we first find that play onthe name of the insect as pronounced, which wasto be repeated in a thousand different keys by amultitude of poets through the literature of morethan nine hundred years: — Aki no no niMichi mo madoinu; Matsumushi noKoe suru kata niYadoya karamashi. In the autumn-fields I lose my way; — perhapsI might ask for lodg
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