Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/364

Rh country so exceptionally rich as is Japan in musical insects,—are wonderful melodists in their own way. But the Japanese find as much difference between the notes of night-insects and of cicadae as we find between those of larks and sparrows; and they relegate their cicadae to the vulyar place of chatterers. Semi are therefore never caged. The national liking for caged insects does not mean a liking for mere noise; and the note of every insect in public favour must possess either some rhythmic charm, or some mimetic quality celebrated in poetry or legend. The same fact is true of the Japanese liking for the chant of frogs. It would be a mistake to suppose that all kinds of frogs are considered musical; but there are particular species of very small frogs having sweet notes; and these are edged and petted.

Of course, in the proper meaning of the word, insects do not sing; but in the following pages I may occasionally employ the terms "singer" and "singing-insect,"—partly because of their convenience, and partly because of their correspondence with the language used by Japanese insect-dealers and poets, describing the "voices" of such creatures.

There are many curious references in the old 註