Note 874 — ORDER VII. HOMOPTERA.

Georg. iii. 328. Cf. Bucol. ii. Sir J. E. Smith, Tour., iii. 95, says also that the common Italian species makes a most disagreeable and dull chirping. The Cicadas of Africa, it is said, may be heard half a mile off; and the sound of one in a room will put a whole company to silence. Thunberg asserts that those of Java utter a sound as shrill and piercing as that of a trumpet. Captain Hancock informed Messrs. Kirby and Spence that the Brazilian Cicadas sing as loud as to be heard at the distance of a mile. Introd., ii. 400. The sound of our American species, C. septemdecim, has been compared to the ringing of horse-bells. The tettix of the Greeks, says Dr. Shaw, Travels, 2d edit., p. 186, must have had quite a different voice, more soft surely and more melodious; otherwise the fine orators of Homer, who are compared to it, can be looked upon as no better than loud, loquacious scolds.