372 ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, Besides Acherontia atropos, another Lepitlopterous insect, capable of producing sounds, has been mentioned,— the male of Cheloma pudica. I have never possessed one of these insects alive, and have not heard them, therefore cannot say any thing respecting its vocal organs. From what has been said, it appears that the musical instru-ment of all the insects I have examined, consists of a thin, hard, transparent membrane, which gives out a perceptible sound when it is artificially excited ; that this membrane is put in action by a striated bow, or by a muscle which causes it to vibrate, altering its form at the time of vibration ; and that the intervention of a stream of air issuing from the stigmata is not required to explain the cause of stridulation. If the sonorous organs were enclosed in a cavity, and the stigmata opened directly into it, the influence of the air on the production of the sounds might be admitted ; but as most of these organs are external, and the others distant from the stigmata, it is not probable that there is any relation between the one and the other. I am therefore led to conclude that insects have not a true voice, but that they possess sound-producing instruments : thus they are not songsters but musicians. — Translated for the Entomological Magazine, hy George Newman, jun. Art. XL. — Entomological Notes. By Edward Newman. [Continued from p. 181.) [It will save useless repetition to say, that the insects described in this portion of the notes are contained in the Cabinet of the Entomological Club. — E. Newman.] Class. — Diptera. Natural Order. — Chrysotoxites, Newman. Genus. — Dimeraspis, Newman. Generi Microdonti affinis ; antennae geniculatae, capite fere dupl6 longiores, 3-articulatae, articulus 1"% gracilis, elongatus, cylindricus, 2"'. brevis, obconicus, 3"% primo vix longior manifeste crassior, e basi setam emittens : scutelluin complanatum rigidum, postice
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