Note 11 — Chapter IX · THE PINE COCKCHAFER

Years ago, a mortar thundering under the plane-tree in which the orchestra of the Cicadæ11 was performing did not for a moment interrupt or otherwise affect their concert: at a later date, the hullabaloo of a holiday crowd and the crackling of fireworks let off close by failed to disturb the geometry of a Garden Spider working at her web,12 to-day, the limpid tinkle of Les Cloches de Corneville leaves the insect profoundly indifferent, in so far as we are able to judge. Are we to infer deafness? That would be going a great deal too far.